2022 Super Rugby U20s
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Manawatū: 17
Wellington: 17
Hawke's Bay: 7
Wairarapa Bush: 2
Horowhenua Kapiti: 1
Whanganui: 1I miss quite a few Hawke's Bay names in that list, so either they are still at school (I hope this is the reason), have left the region or have been overlooked again. Examples are Brad Campbell, Hoera Stephenson, Corey Berkett, Mefi Tupou, Tino Savea, Jayden Stok and twins Gilgal and Bethel Leutele-Malasia. I understand Afa Moleli has moved to Auckland. I heard rumours about Stok moving to either Dunedin or Hamilton for Uni.
Must admit that I find it quite a worry that Hawke's Bay schools have been dominating school rugby in the Hurricanes region for years, and so few end up in squads like these. Where are they?
Jordan Viljoen spent his last year at Hastings Boys, but came from Palmy, so is - correctly - named under Manawatū.
Interestingly, Richie Mo'unga's nephew (Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula) is named under Manawatū, too.Unfortunately, Darren Larsen is still in charge, so the favouritism will continue.
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Info for the Hawke's Bay faithful about Matt Monaghan, who's listed under Hawke's Bay, but hasn't attended a Hawke's Bay school so must have been signed by the Magpies Academy for 2022.
Google tells me he was in the 2021 NZ Secondary Schools squad (listed as a Kings' College student), the 2020 Blues U17 Development squad (listed as a Huanui College student. In an article from 2018, he's mentioned as a Kamo U16 lock.
Maybe the Blues/Northland Ferners know a bit more about him?
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@stargazer son of Tony Monaghan, former NZ 7s player, Blues and Northland player.
He is 1 of 4 boys Tony has, possibly not tall enough to be a out and out lock.
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2022 Hurricanes U20 Wider Squad:
Whanganui
Ezra MaloHawkes Bay
Tino Savea
Josiah Sakaria
Matt Monaghan
Cooper Flanders
Harry Godfrey
Bethel Malasia
Amos RoddickManawatū
Raymond Tuputupu
Sase Va'a
Feleti Sae Ta'ufo'ou
Joshua Taula
Malakai Ngatai
Elyjah Crosswell
Hunter Morrison
Jordan Viljoen
Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula
Kyle Brown
Tavita Henare-Schuster
Logan HenryWellington
Joyner Gaualofa
Siale Lauaki
Bradley Crichton
Nonu Tuia
Maea Tema-Schmidt
Dominic Ropeti
Sione Halalilo
Peter Lakai
Chicago Doyle
Sam Howling
Logan Love
Riley Higgins
Isi SaumakiManagement:
Head Coach: Darren Larsen (Hurricanes)
Assistant Coach: Ellery Wilson (Hawkes Bay)
Assistant Coach: Eugene Smith (Wellington)
Team Manager: Chris Back (Whanganui)
Team Liaison: Dion Cooper (Hawkes Bay/Taupo)
Physiotherapist: Emma Lattey (Resource)
Strength & Conditioning Coach: Jack Kovacs (Wellington)
Strength & Conditioning Coach: Ayrton Yarrell (Hurricanes)
Performance Analyst: Ryan Runciman (Hurricanes)Headlining the squad are NZ U20 and Hurricanes National Development Contracted players Harry Godfrey, Riley Higgins and Peter Lakai. Currently training with the Hurricanes, the talented teens will look to impose themselves on the competition.
2021 NZ Secondary Schools representatives Chicago Doyle, Cooper Flanders, Siale Lauaki, Matt Monaghan and Jordi Viljoen are selected alongside 11 returnees, hoping to make their second tournament side.
Hurricanes Heartland U20 Captain – Ezra Malo is the lone heartland representative in the side, with the Whanganui product having made three appearances for the Whanganui Heartland side in 2021.
The tournament, initially scheduled for march was postponed due to the on-going impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic which will see an overlap with club rugby. As a result – the side will play, just one preseason game before the tournament proper.The players will assemble in Palmerston North at the end of April for a connection camp – before the squad is narrowed to 28 for the second Super Rugby Aotearoa U20s tournament from May 22-28.
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Limiting myself to HB players, it's really disappointing not to see Kaihau Pasikala and Kere Penetito in the squad. Penetito is in the HB Academy and a great talent. Not sure where Pasikala is; hopefully not poached, but not sure whether he's in our academy, has returned to school for another year, has moved somewhere else, or has other priorities.
Number of players by province (note that they haven't just dropped players; they also have added others that weren't in the squad named in November):
Wellington: 13
Manawatū: 12
Hawke's Bay: 7
Whanganui: 1
Wairarapa Bush: 0
Horowhenua Kapiti: 0Such a pity that Darren Larsen is still in charge.
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I'm really interested in finding out how they're going to use Cooper Flanders. I've always thought he'd be a great openside, but he played at 8 for Hastings Boys'. I think he was wearing the 7 jersey for Hurricanes U18, last year.
For those who haven't followed school rugby threads; I'm getting even more excited about Cooper's talents than about Devan's. That's saying something! Larsen will probably pick Wellingtonians Lakai (7) and Ropeti (8) ahead of him though; they're among the players left from last year's squad and in 2021 Larsen didn't rotate his squad to give everyone a fair amount of game time, like other SRU20 coaches did.
Oh, Harry Godfrey is awesome, too. Whangaunui Collegiate old boy, who earned his first Magpies cap in 2021 (in the non-competition game against Northland). A 10/15 with Izzy Dagg's talent for facials!
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@stargazer said in 2022 Super Rugby U20s:
I'm really interested in finding out how they're going to use Cooper Flanders. I've always thought he'd be a great openside, but he played at 8 for Hastings Boys'. I think he was wearing the 7 jersey for Hurricanes U18, last year.
For those who haven't followed school rugby threads; I'm getting even more excited about Cooper's talents than about Devan's. That's saying something! Larsen will probably pick Wellingtonians Lakai (7) and Ropeti (8) ahead of him though; they're among the players left from last year's squad and in 2021 Larsen didn't rotate his squad to give everyone a fair amount of game time, like other SRU20 coaches did.
Oh, Harry Godfrey is awesome, too. Whangaunui Collegiate old boy, who earned his first Magpies cap in 2021 (in the non-competition game against Northland). A 10/15 with Izzy Dagg's talent for facials!
Quick rundown of why? He's the youngest so likely the toughest, but apart from that?
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@gt12 No other reasons than that he was absolutely great in getting turnovers and defensively very strong for HBHS. He can play anywhere in the backrow though. Very smart player, who reads the game well for his age and makes good decisions (that's why he's often the captain of the teams he plays for; he's a good leader). He has a huge workrate and has skills (like in-game kicking) you don't see very often in forwards (may have to do with him playing halfback and first five-eighth in previous years). He still has to get bigger, but I think he's still 18 years old (don't know his date of birth).
Article from 2019:
Rugby: Loosie poised to better brother's feats - NZ Herald
Back-yard bashes pay off for young Flanders
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@stargazer said in 2022 Super Rugby U20s:
Limiting myself to HB players, it's really disappointing not to see Kaihau Pasikala and Kere Penetito in the squad. Penetito is in the HB Academy and a great talent. Not sure where Pasikala is; hopefully not poached, but not sure whether he's in our academy, has returned to school for another year, has moved somewhere else, or has other priorities.
Number of players by province (note that they haven't just dropped players; they also have added others that weren't in the squad named in November):
Wellington: 13
Manawatū: 12
Hawke's Bay: 7
Whanganui: 1
Wairarapa Bush: 0
Horowhenua Kapiti: 0Such a pity that Darren Larsen is still in charge.
Maybe Mr. Larsen has been up in the norther regions of the catchment and has got trapped by the floodwaters has not been able to get back to advise whether there are any players from Poverty Bay or East Coast and they have just shoehorned in a couple more Wellington players to get their numbers up?
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@stargazer Matt Monaghan is the son of former Northland first five Tony ..was schooling at Huanui college a small co ed college in Whangarei then got picked up by Kings College
One that got away from Northland -
@steven-harris he's probably the best of Tony's 4 boys, although the youngest (16) has potential, also has an outstanding mullet.
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2022 Highlanders U20 Wider Squad:
OtagoOscar Cowley-Andrea
Steve Salelea
Rohan Wingham
Israel Otunuku
Michael Strydom
Oahu Davies-Philips
Konrad Toleafoa
Taylor Dale
Harrison Morton
Fabian Holland
Lawrence Leung-Wai
Oliver Haig
Will Stodart
Heath McEwen
Aaron Withy
Semisi Tupou-Taeiloa
Ned Pene
Noah Hotham
Brad Campbell
Cam Millar
Ajay Faleafaga
Jake Te Hiwi
Tony Solomona
Jeremiah Asi
Oliver Foote
Bradley McPate
Jacob Waikari Jones
Finn Hurley
Filipo Whitehouse-Opetaia Tovio
SouthlandLiam McIntosh
Jack Taylor
Kaea Nikora Balloch
Hayden Michaels
North OtagoAsesela Ravuvu
ManagementHead Coach: Ryan Bambry
Forwards Coach: Will Henry
Attack Coach: Dean Moeahu
Defence Coach: Kane Jury
Analysis & Skills Coach: Jason Forrest
Manager: Simon Wallace
Lead Strength & Conditioning Coach: Hamish McMillian
Strength & Conditioning Coach: Brooke Eade
Physiotherapist: Karen Meehan
Performance Analysts: Sam James-Everton & Hudson James-Everton
Nutritionist: Hanna Zouggari
Super Rugby Next Gen Competition (22-28th May, Taupō)Highlanders U20s v Barbarian FC U20s – Sunday 22nd May
Highlanders U20s v Blues U20s – Wednesday 25th May
Highlanders U20s v Chiefs U20s – Saturday 28th May
Highlanders u20's Wider Squad Named | Highlanders Rugby Club Limited Partnership
The Super Rugby Next Gen Competition will take place in May in Taupō and will provide a platform for the best under 20 talents in the Highlander’s region to showcase their skills at a national level. The quality of players and management groups across the five Super Rugby Clubs and the Barbarian...
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Looking at that competition schedule, the franchise teams will only play 3 of the 6 teams (5 franchises + Barbarians).
You'd have to assume that each team that plays the Barbarians has an advantage - on the competition table - over teams that don't play the Barbarians. This was also the case, last year, wasn't it? I really hoped we'd get a full schedule, this year, with each team playing all the other 5.
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At the very least each team should play the 2 teams they didn't play in 2021, which looks to be the case. Luck of the draw for the other opponent.
The 2021 schedule was:
Sunday 11 April
11am Hurricanes v Chiefs
1pm Barbarians v Highlanders
3pm Crusaders v BluesWednesday 14 April
11.30am Barbarians v Blues
1.30pm Hurricanes v Highlanders
3.30pm Crusaders v ChiefsSaturday 17 April
11am Crusaders v Highlanders
1pm Barbarians v Chiefs
3pm Hurricanes v Blues
