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Returning All Blacks complemented by slew of former age-grade representatives for Waikato
‘Something old, something new’ could be the strategy for how Waikato head coach Andrew Strawbridge assembled his squad for the upcoming Mitre 10 Cup.
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While the signings of Liam Messam, Adam Thomson and Patrick Osborne have been previously telegraphed, it’s the players on the other end of the experience spectrum that should get fans through the Waikato Stadium turnstiles in droves this season.
Over two-thirds of the new squad have previously played age-grade rugby for New Zealand with eight being selected in the national Under 20s set-up over the last two years.
That includes props George Dyer, Robert Cobb and Oliver Norris, loose forwards Samipeni Finau and Simon Parker, and backs Rivez Reihana, Quinn Tupaea and Gideon Wrampling.
Notably, four of those players turned out for the Chiefs during this year’s Super Rugby season. Tupaea, of course, was a mainstay in the midfield while Cobb, Norris and Parker were brought into the team late in the season following a slew of injuries.
While Waikato have mostly held on to their key performers from prior seasons, they will have to make do without the likes of Declan O’Donnell, Dwayne Sweeney, Tyler Campbell and Jack Stratton, who all either missed out on selection or have taken their talents elsewhere.
It’s the losses due to injury that will likely hit the Mooloo men harder.
Locks Laghlan McWhannell and James Tucker were named in the Chiefs and Blues squad respectively for Super Rugby this year, but injuries meant they played no minutes throughout their campaigns and also won’t be fit to represent Waikato.
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As it was for the Chiefs, the second row could be a bit of an Achilles’ heel for Waikato, with no out-and-out locks selected in the squad. They’ll have to rely on the likes of former Scotland Under 20 representative Hamilton Burr as well as Samipeni Finau and Adam Thomson to cover.
Solomon Alaimalo, who managed just a handful of games for Waikato in his first season with the team last year will again be sidelined due to injury and has not been included in the squad. While Waikato are well-equipped with utility backs who can cover the outsides, new recruit Osborne is the only experienced specialist winger in the team. 20-year-old Gideon Wrampling scored four tries in three fixtures for the New Zealand Secondary Schools side last year, however, and is worth keeping an eye on.
Unsurprisingly, the loose forwards are once again a position of strength for Waikato. Messam and Thomson are former All Blacks while Luke Jacobson will be gunning to earn his spot back in the national side, having been selected for the 2019 Rugby World Cup but having to return home due to concussion.
Mitchell Jacobson, meanwhile, is somewhat of a Waikato stalwart and will likely once again own the openside flanker position this season. The likes of Finau and Simon Parker both spent time in Super Rugby environments this year, with Parker earning a cap for the Chiefs in the final game of the season and Finau training with the Hurricanes.
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Jack Stratton, who was the starting halfback for the New Zealand Barbarians in their match against the British and Irish Lions, was probably unlucky not have to picked up a Super Rugby contract at some stage and has headed to Japan. That leaves 21-year-old Xavier Roe and 19-year-old Cortez Ratima – neither who’s played for Waikato before – to contest the scrumhalf role.
Perhaps the one position of greatest depth for the season ahead is first five. While Fletcher Smith will no doubt start the season handling the playmaking duties, he’ll be kept honest by Rivez Reihana, Liam Coombes-Fabling and potentially Matty Lansdown, who’ve all stood out in the 10 jersey during their high school years.
Coombes-Fabling, entering his first year with the team, was named the Player of the Tournament at 2019’s Nations Sevens competition and looks to have a bright future while Reihana played in New Zealand’s final match of last year’s Under 20 World Championship and was again eligible for the team this season.
Waikato have just two current All Blacks on their books, Damian McKenzie and Anton Lienert-Brown, so there’ll be little disruption to the squad when they’re pulled into the national set-up.
After churning through their Championship opposition in 2018 to force their way back into the Premiership division, last year was unsurprisingly much tougher going for Waikato and while the squad may lack experience compared to others around the country, it perhaps boasts the most young talent.
Waikato’s season kicks off on September 12 against Wellington at FMG Stadium in Hamilton.
Waikato squad for 2020:
Hookers: Sekope Lopeti Moli, Steven Misa, Samison Taukei’aho
Props: Rob Cobb, George Dyer, Josh Iosefa-Scott, Ayden Johnstone, Sefo Kautai, Oliver Norris
Locks: Hamilton Burr, Samipeni Finau, Adam Thomson
Loose forwards: Luke Jacobson, Mitchell Jacobson, Liam Messam, Simon Parker, James Thompson
Halfbacks: Cortez Ratima, Xavier Roe
First fives: Rivez Reihana, Fletcher Smith, Liam Coombes-Fabling
Midfield: Anton Lienert-Brown, Louis Rogers, Quinn Tupaea, Valynce Te Whare
Outside backs: Matthew Lansdown, Damian McKenzie, Patrick Osborne, Bailyn Sullivan, Gideon Wrampling
Comments on RugbyPass
The greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
15 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
15 Go to commentsNZ rugby seem not to have learnt anything from professional rugby. Super rugby was dying and SA left before they died with the competition. SA rugby did a u turn on their approach to international players playing overseas and such players are now selected for Bok teams. As much as each country would love to retain their players playing in local competitions, this is the way the world is evolving my friends. Move with it or stay 20 years behind the times. One more thing. NZ rugby hierarchy think they are the big cheese. Take a more humble approach guys. You do not seem to have your players best interests at heart.
3 Go to commentsBeaches? In Cardiff? Where?
1 Go to commentsHe is right , the Crusaders will be a threat. Scott Barrett, ( particularly), Fergus Burke , Codie Taylor, ( from sabbatical) etc due back soon for the Crusaders. There are others like Zach Gallagher too. People can right the Crusaders off, Top 8 , here we come !!
1 Go to commentsWe will always struggle for money to match the other sides but the least the WRU can do is invest properly in Welsh rugby. Too much has been squandered on vanity projects like the hotel and roof walk amongst others which will never see a massive return. Hanging the 4 pro sides out to dry over the last decade is now coming back to bite the WRU financially as well as on the pitch. You reap what you sow.
1 Go to commentsWhat do you get if you cross a doctor with a fish? A plastic sturgeon
14 Go to commentsWhat happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to commentsGregor I just can’t agree with you. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. Jordie Barrett has signed until 2028. By the end of that he would have spent probably 11-12 years on Super Rugby and you say he can’t possibly have one season playing somewhere else. It is absurd. What about this scenario, the NZR play hard ball and he decides to leave and play overseas. How would that affect the competition. There seems to be an agenda by certain journalists to push certain agendas and don’t like it when it’s not to their liking. I fully support the NZR on this. Gregor needs to get a life.
3 Go to commentsHope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
1 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
3 Go to commentsJake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
15 Go to commentsThe Springboks tried going down the road of only picking home-based players and it was an unmitigated disaster in 2016 and 2017. Picking overseas-based players has been one of the main reason the Boks have done so well since 2018, not only because of the quality Rassie could call on, but because of the knowledge and experience those players brought into camp from England, France and Japan. With some of the big names playing abroad it also gave younger players in SA the chance to break through at franchise level. Would we have seen the emergence of a Ruan Nortje if RG and Lood were still at the Bulls? Not so sure. I understand why Jake would want to block players leaving since his job depends on good results but it’s an approach that would take Bok rugby back to the bad old days and no South African wants to see that.
15 Go to commentsExeter were thumped by 38 points. And they only had to hop on a train.
39 Go to commentsI am De Groot.
1 Go to commentsHad hoped you might write an article on this game, Nick. It’s a good one. Things have not gone as smoothly for ROG since beating Leinster last year at the Aviva in the CC final. LAR had the Top 14 Final won till Raymond Rhule missed a simple tackle on the excellent Ntamack, and Toulouse reaped the rewards of just staying in the fight till the death. Then the disruption of the RWC this season. LAR have not handled that well, but they were not alone, and we saw Pau heading the Top 14 table at one stage early season. I would think one of the reasons for the poor showing would have to be that the younger players coming through, and the more mature amongst the group outside the top 25/30, are not as strong as would be hoped for. I note that Romain Sazy retired at the end of last season. He had been with LAR since 2010, and was thus one of their foundation players when they were promoted to Top 14. Records show he ended up with 336 games played with LAR. That is some experience, some rock in the team. He has been replaced for the most part by Ultan Dillane. At 30, Dillane is not young, but given the chances, he may be a fair enough replacement for Sazy. But that won’be for more than a few years. I honestly know little of the pathways into the LAR setup from within France. I did read somewhere a couple of years ago that on the way up to Top 14, the club very successfully picked up players from the academies of other French teams who were not offered places by those teams. These guys were often great signings…can’t find the article right now, so can’t name any….but the Tadgh Beirne type players. So all in all, it will be interesting to see where the replacements for all the older players come from. Only Lleyd’s and Rhule from SA currently, both backs. So maybe a few SA forwards ?? By contrast, Leinster have a pretty clear line of good players coming through in the majority of positions. Props maybe a weak spot ? And they are very fleet footed and shrewd in appointing very good coaches. Or maybe it is also true that very good coaches do very well in the Leinster setup. So, Nick, I would fully concurr that “On the evidence of Saturday’s semi-final between the two clubs, the rebuild in the Bay of Biscay is going to take longer than it is on the east coast of Ireland”
11 Go to commentsWhat was the excuse for the other knockout blowouts then? Does the result not prove the Saints were just so much better? Wise call to put your eggs in one basket when you’ve got 2 comps simultaneously finishing.
39 Go to commentsReally hope Kuruvoli and his partner rock the Canes.
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