Watch: TJ Perenara, Ofa Tu'ungafasi, Patrick Tuipulotu shine in star-studded 2010 clash between Blues U18 and Hurricanes U18
New Zealand’s famed conveyer belt of talent has been attributed as one of the many reasons the All Blacks and the nation’s five Super Rugby franchises have been so dominant in recent years.
That particularly holds true in the last decade, when the All Blacks claimed two World Cup crowns while the Chiefs, Hurricanes, Crusaders and Highlanders won combined seven Super Rugby titles of the ten on offer between 2010 and 2019.
A large number of players from those championship-winning sides also came through New Zealand’s esteemed schoolboy rugby system in that same period as well.
Over half of last year’s All Blacks World Cup squad played secondary school rugby at some stage over the past ten years, illustrating the efficiency of the development schemes currently in place for youngsters in New Zealand.
Those players include the likes of TJ Perenara, Ofa Tu’ungafasi and Patrick Tuipulotu, all now established All Blacks who featured in the final of the 2010 Regional U18 tournament.
The four-team competition was composed of youth sides from the Blues, Chiefs, Hurricanes and a South Island team made up of players from the Crusaders and Highlanders catchment regions.
Showcasing the best high school talent New Zealand had to offer, the Blues and Hurricanes U18 teams faced off in the tournament final ten years ago, which comes as little surprise given the breadth of talent and potential laden across both teams.
Three future All Blacks – Tu’ungafasi of the Blues and Perenara and future Highlanders lock Jackson Hemopo – were named in their team’s respective starting lineups, while Tuipulotu made an appearance off the bench for the Blues squad.
Other notable names throughout the starting sides include Jordan Taufua and Bryn Hall, both of whom were representing – and, in Hall’s case, captaining – the Blues at the time and have since gone on to be named in All Blacks squads, although neither have a test cap to their name.
Current Worcester Warriors and ex-Hurricanes lock Michael Fatialofa lined up against his future side in Blues colours, and he was joined by an additional six players who went on to play professionally either in Super Rugby or in Europe.
Accompanying Hemopo in a strong Hurricanes forward pack was future Chiefs and Munster hooker Rhys Marshall, NRL player turned one-time Highlanders loose forward Tupou Sopoaga and ex-Highlanders, Gloucester, Bristol and current Suntory Sungoliath lock Joe Latta.
Former Crusaders and Hurricanes props Donald Brighouse and Eric Sione anchored the scrum, while ex-Blues utility back Hamish Northcott started at first-five and former Highlanders and Sunwolves midfielder Jason Emery was named at centre.
In an entertaining affair played at Hamilton’s St Paul’s Collegiate, both halfbacks – Hall and Perenara – proved to be influential figures throughout the contest.
Hall, who has gone on to win three Super Rugby titles with the Crusaders, slotted 13 points from the kicking tee, while 64-test All Black Perenara assisted one of his side’s two tries.
Both tries were scored by second-five Opetema Peleseuma, which handed the Hurricanes a 16-13 lead at the break, but a Blues team inspired by Tu’ungafasi and Tuipulotu fought back staunchly.
The All Blacks duo showed immense power to register on the score sheet, with a late try to replacement player Sam Quinn sealing a 33-16 victory as the Hurricanes were held scoreless in the second half.
Perenara, Tu’ungafasi, Hall, Fatialofa, Sopoaga, Latta and Peleseuma all went on to make that year’s New Zealand Schools squad that defeated Tonga and Australia, while Tuipulotu and Emery were selected for the national side the following season.
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments