2024 NZ Schools Rugby
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@Bovidae You can find the lineups of the Australia U18 Gold and Green teams for the trials here:
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There was some cross-over of the Gold and Green teams, as several players of the Green team were on the Gold U18 bench against the ASRU Schools team. Most of the players who didn't make the cut were in team Green, all starting players of Gold U18 seem to have been selected.
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So it looks like Tevita Tatafu is the lock that is injured for NZ Schools? I'd say that's a pretty big loss for the team as I presumed he would be both the primary target in the lineout as well as the caller. Makes sense that they've gone for Tocker at blindside as a good lineout target, although that might put some more pressure on the breakdown.
Bronson Van Der Heyden also seems like a new addition to the Barbarian U18s. They should provide a good challenge for the Australia U18s.
It looks like the games will be livestreamed on NZ Rugby's Youtube channel.
I won't be able to watch the games live, unfortunately, but hopefully they'll just be available for replay afterwards.
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Australia U18
1 Kingsley Uys - The Southport School
2 John Grenfell - Nudgee College
3 Edwin Langi - Eastern Suburbs Rugby Club
4 Will Ross - Padua College
5 Isaac Fonua - The King's School
6 Eli Langi - Brisbane State High School
7 Tom Robinson (c) - UQ Rugby Club
8 Heinz Lemoto - The Scots College
9 Angus Grover - St Igantius College, Riverview
10 Jonty Fowler - St Joseph's College
11 Heamasi Makasini - Newington College
12 Josh Takai - Brothers Rugby Club
13 Frankie Goldsbrough (vc) - Easts Rugby Club
14 Tom Howard - Marist College Ashgrove
15 Rex Bassingthwaighte - The Shore SchoolReserves
16 Ewald Kruger - GPS Rugby Club
17 Nick Hill - Barker College
18 Jonah Rangiwai - The Southport School
19 Avery Thomson - GPS Rugby Club
20 Luca Cleverley - Newington College
21 Sam Blank - St Augustine's College
22 Finn Mackay - St Laurence's College
23 Zach Fittler - The Scots College -
A squad update to the Barbarians U18s.
Scores from today:
Australia U18 57 - 47 NZ Barbarians U18 (HT: 38 - 21)Aust has some big forwards who are very good ball-carriers, particularly the LH prop Kingsley Uys, blindside flanker Eli Langi and no.8 Heinz Lemoto. Their 1st 5 Jonty Fowler controlled play well and the left winger Heamasi Makasiini was very dangerous. As you can see from the score the NZ Barbarians U18s didn't have any problems scoring themselves. Some inaccurate play and turnovers proved costly in the end.
NZ Schools 91 - 5 Samoa U18 (HT: 46 - 0)
As expected, this was a thrashing. Samoa had their moments but handling errors and getting on the wrong side of the ref didn't help. No.8 Saumaki Saumaki was the POTY for me (at least 3 tries), and his Nelson College teammate and 1st Harry Inch pulled the strings in the backs. A big game also from Nico Stanley (who also got a hat-trick). The relatives/parents of some of the Nelson College players were sitting next to me and were very vocal.
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I've just been able to watch the games. The Barbarians U18s will probably be disappointed with some moments in defense, where the Australian U18s were just able to get over the line a little bit too easily. That being said, the Aussie U18s were really efficient on turnover ball, some great offloads and kicks leading to tries.
And as the game went on, and the Australia U18s realized they could keep on recycling the ball phase after phase, they just basically had to wait until a gap opened up in the Barbarian defense (Kingsley Uys especially being good at finding/forcing these gaps).
I thought Micah Fale stood up well in his role as captain, carrying aggressively in attack and working hard in defense. From the Australians, I thought their halfback pairing went really well, good orchestration of the attack, both through kicking and passing.
I don't think there's a whole lot to say about the NZ Schools game. Samoa U18 kept on working but it was just a little too easy for the NZ Schools forwards and backs to make metres. For NZ Schools, they'll want to work on the breakdown. Australia U18 effectively targeted the Barbarian ruck so they'll pose a bigger challenge than Samoa there.
All in all, fun games to watch. I thought the quality of the stream was an improvement on recent years as well.
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It's also hard to know what the best starting XV for the NZ Schools is. Some players were replaced at HT and there were plenty of changes in the 2nd half, including a reshuffle of the backline. Sinkinson (hooker) even come back on replace Saumaki when he went off. This was the game to try out some combinations.
Tocker looked taller than either starting lock, and I'm not sure Falloon starts against Aust. Sinton will probably start at halfback but the NC 9/10 combo works well.
They had multiple cameras for the coverage compared to previous years.
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@Bovidae Yeah, talking about the NZ Schools backline, at a certain point it was very hard to work out who was playing where. Inch and Verster were constantly interchanging at first receiver, but I think Inch moved to fullback when Norrie went off? I'll have to take another look at another time.
I think Australia U18 will have taken a lot out of their game against the Barbarians, so they should be well prepared for the game on Sunday. Like you said, they have a lot of solid athletes and carriers, so if the Australians can shore up their defense, it should be a good contest.
Apparently, the NZ Schools coaches do view someone like Hutchings as a potential openside. But, if Aio Keith isn't injured, I do expect the latter to start at 7 against Australia.
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@Bovidae said in 2024 NZ Schools Rugby:
and I'm not sure Falloon starts against Aust
I'm having a quick rewatch of the game, focusing on some specific players including Falloon, and I've been impressed by his mobility and work-rate. Compared to Frazer Brown's game against the Australia U18s, for example, Falloon seems to exhibit a lot of physicality and intensity in the carry and clean (Brown wasn't poor by any means for the Barbarians but he did seem to lack a bit of fitness, at times). Falloon had some big carries through the middle, especially in the first half, and was a reliable source of lineout ball.
Did you notice anything at the ground about his game which makes you doubt he starts against Australia?
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@Mauss said in 2024 NZ Schools Rugby:
Did you notice anything at the ground about his game which makes you doubt he starts against Australia?
The choice of locks will depend on the makeup of the loose forwards, and particularly the fitness of Saumaki. He was very impressive, and there isn't a like-for-like replacement if his injury is serious. Falloon wasn't bad but his hands let him down a couple of times, including losing the ball in contact near the Samoan goal-line. I thought McLeod was the better of the starting locks - a good workrate and strong in the carry. Giera is a beanpole while Falloon has some size.
Given the difference in the quality of the opposition, Brown was one of the better performing Barbarians forwards for me, along with Raviyawa.
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@Bovidae I would guess that if Saumaki is injured, Spratley comes in at number 8? He doesn't pose the same threat but he's a very good player in his own right.
I agree that McLeod was very good. Compared to Falloon, I guess that he was a bit more prominent in open play? But they both had different roles, so I find it hard to compare their performances. I just felt that Falloon did well, considering he was called in from the Barbarians. He didn't look out of place to me.
Brown was excellent in the lineout and the maul, and had some good moments in attack. But there were several instances - for example, for Australia U18s third try - where he didn't drift in defense, leaving the Barbarians defensive line a man short and creating the easy overlap for the Aussie U18s.
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This explains the reason for him being replaced.
We are all incredibly proud of Tevita Tatafu for being selected in the New Zealand Secondary Schools team this year. It's a real testament to how much Big T has worked on his game over the last couple of years in particular. Unfortunately he was concussed in a recent Auckland U18 fixture, this has ruled him out of all rugby for the next few weeks so he won't be able to take the field in the black jersey this week. A setback for Tevita, but he'll be back stronger than ever in 2025.
So looks to be eligible next year.
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@Bovidae That's unfortunate, I was looking forward to watching him play.
So he'll play another year for St. Peter's? I didn't know he was that young. Then again, I've read that small passage a couple of times now and I can't work out whether they're actually saying he'll play another year of First XV rugby or that he'll just return to playing rugby in 2025 (for club or whatever).
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These past days I’ve taken another few looks at the games. Some more random thoughts:
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The return of the catch and pass: it was noticeable how clean both NZ Schools and Barbarians U18s were in their execution on attack. One reason for this, I feel, was their catch and pass: the backs were aligned well and the pass was quick out of the hands. Recent Kiwi age grade teams have regularly stuffed up drawing their man, thinking that attacking and manipulating the defensive line means waiting to pass at the last moment. Defences, in recent years, have used this hesitation to shift their focus on the recipient, meaning that the receiver of the pass gets both ball and defender at the same time. The hesitation with the ball then turns from what was previously an attacking advantage to a serious benefit for the defence. It was good to see NZ Schools and Barbarian U18s move away from this tendency. Both teams did really well in creating clarity: either the ball is decisively carried or the ball is shifted quickly.
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Searching for scrum dominance rather than scrum technique: both the NZ Schools and the Aussie U18s front-rows are made up of power-athletes atypical of the position. Liam Van Der Heyden (TH), Charlie Wallis (LH) (NZ Schools), Kingsley Uys (LH), and Nicholas Hill (LH) (Australia U18) are all very tall and relatively lean props, who carry strongly and who have deceptively quick feet. Their build clearly impacts their scrummaging techniques as well though: Van Der Heyden, in his first scrum against Samoa U18, was still nearly standing up when binding to his opponent, and Nicholas Hill’s back was so arched it’s hard to imagine a lot of power being able to come through it (he seemingly relied on his own upper-body strength and quickly started walking around). Rassie Erasmus recently made an interesting distinction between dominant and technical scrums. Refs, not always as clued in on what goes on in the scrum as Springbok head coaches, can award scrums who look to be dominant, even if scrummaging technically incorrect. Seeing how both NZ Schools and Australia U18s front-rows are lacking in scrum technique, the battle on Sunday will probably be decided by the scrum that is most aggressive and ‘appearing dominant’.
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Plenty of backline talent coming through: Like I said before, it’s hard to take too much away from the game against Samoa U18. That being said, when a team is so utterly dominant, it can lead to some silly decision-making, as players try to be too clever. This wasn’t the case for the NZ Schools backline, however, which remained very focused and precise throughout the game. Harry Inch kept the game direct and simple, using the power and speed of the players around him to probe and eventually break the Samoan defensive line. The backline players also stayed connected well, Pahulu, Vaega, Stanley and Guerin constantly running off shoulders and looking to manipulate space rather than attacking the line individually. They all look like great athletes but it was pleasing to see them using their sense of the game rather than just their individual ability. In the Barbarians game, Pyrenees Boyle-Tiatia was impressive in his ability to find and create gaps, connecting well with both his midfield partner, Saunderson-Rurawhe, as well as his outside backs. The Barbarian backline was consistently able to get round the Australian defensive line which shot up (albeit a little passively at times) through quick hands and smart running lines.
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