2024 NZ Schools Rugby
-
-
An article about the three games. I left on FT so I'm not sure who won the Bronze Boot Award from NZ and Aust.
-
The Chiefs U18 squad is below. It would be somewhere between a B and C team in strength with a large number of players from the NZ Schools, Barbarians U18s, and the Māori U18 missing. The rain started before kickoff and continued in the 1st half so handling was difficult. Samoa had their moments again but the Chiefs were always dangerous when they held on to the ball. Centre/winger David Lewai (pictured) scored 4 tries. The scrum was dominant. All but three players were subbed at HT although some of the replaced players returned late in the 2nd half.
-
I wasn’t originally planning on closely watching the game between NZ Schools and the Māori U18s but, after seeing the game on Thursday, I felt like the efforts of the Māori Under 18 Ngā Whatukura team deserved some more attention.
But first, I’d like to give a quick follow-up on the NZ Schools team. Against Australia U18, it was noticeable how they were disconnected in defence, often shooting up alone without any sort of organized defence behind them. Against the Māori U18s, this disconnection appeared in attack as well, with a lack of coordination between carriers and cleaners, and a lack of trust in each other when attacking opportunities presented themselves. To give just one example: right before half time and behind 8 to 19 on the scoreboard, NZ Schools has an attacking scrum around the halfway line, a great place to set up a strike play and get into the opposition 22. The scrum is dominant, Sinton passes to Tuaimalo Vaega who passes out the back to Norrie – wearing 15 on his back but playing as the first five in this game – and this is the situation:
Norrie has both the space and the numbers to his left but doesn’t pull the trigger.The strike move has resulted in an attacking overlap on the left, with three black players facing 2 white defenders. The Māori defence is also drifting rather than pressing, meaning that there is plenty of space to work with, with the possibility of going through the hands or having Verster, in the white headgear, making the cut-out pass. Instead, Norrie doesn’t pull the trigger, tucks and goes for the carry straight into the defender, Haitai-Waenga, who easily stops him. NZ Schools then recycle the ball for another 6, largely ineffective phases around the 10-metre line, before the Māori U18s are able to get a breakdown steal and boot the ball into touch for halftime.
I’d argue that Norrie’s reasons for his conservatism here are rooted in a broader loss of confidence within the team, their inability to efficiently retain possession in both this game and the previous one making them hesitant to spread the ball. Hoping to build momentum through keeping the ball, it had the opposite effect, making the NZ Schools attack highly predictable and vulnerable at the breakdown. The constant interchange at the first five-position throughout these three games – first Inch, then Verster, then Norrie – disrupted the fluidity of the attack and the organization of the backline, with very little attacking shape being discernible throughout the game nor tactical variation employed through the halfbacks’ kicking game.
This stood in stark contrast to the Māori U18 team, their identity as a team built on two clear-cut pillars: the efficient use of strike plays off of set-piece to score points and a steely defensive resolve, built on work-rate and an intense contestation of the breakdown. These two pillars each came to the fore in different halves: in the first half, the Māori U18 scored three tries off of strike plays. In the second half, they made a collective 84 tackles (my own recorded stats, so give or take on accuracy), many of them on their own try-line, only conceding the one try to Aio Keith 10 minutes before the final whistle.
The strike plays themselves were simple but effective: a back peel off a lineout in the NZ Schools 22 down the blindside led to a line-break and a number of phases on the NZ Schools try-line, before Rata-Makene goes over after the Schools defence became compressed. For the second strike play, with an attacking Māori U18 lineout close to the line, they went with the old “McCaw in South Africa”-move, where a lineout fake to the back leads to space in the middle for the receiver to run through.
He's even wearing the right number. The openside Broome (white, second from left) does his best Richie-in-Joburg impression.And, finally, a Saumaki knock-on near the 22 after a restart resulted in a Māori U18 scrum. From this scrum the 9, Ngawati, passed to his first five, Rata-Makene, who had multiple running options: Neilson, the 14, running the switch, Waitai-Haenga, the 12, running an overs line, and Crosswell, the 13, running a hard unders line. The actual target is the 15, Brailey, sitting in the boot behind the two midfielders, who is found by Rata-Makene as both NZ Schools midfielders are fixed onto their counterparts, effectively splitting the midfield, with Brailey eventually reaching the tryline.
Note also how Broome, the Māori U18 openside (white jersey, top left), has detached early from the scrum to run a blockers line and impede the NZ Schools sweepers from making an effective tackle on Brailey.Whereas the first half displayed the Māori U18s skill in exploiting the NZ Schools’ defensive gaps, the second half exhibited their steel and character in defence. This resolve is less visible in screenshots like those above than it is in raw numbers. Some standouts:
The back five: early in the second half Noah Gregory came on for Oliver Church. The back five of Gregory, Alex Arnold, Caleb Woodley, Jayden Broome and Cruiz Simpson were relentless in their defensive efforts, with Gregory, Arnold and Woodley each making 8 tackles (all numbers from the 2nd half alone), Broome making multiple repeat efforts and Simpson winning 3 lineouts and 2 turnovers. Woodley, the captain, played the full 80, barely standing up by the end of it.
The replacement props: Kane Paranihi en Raharuhi Palmer came on in the 47th minute and combined for 14 tackles in 30 minutes. They each also had multiple hard carries up the middle, scrummed well and contributed in every possible way, with Paranihi even winning a turnover and catching a stray lineout throw.
Le’sharn Reiri-Paku: the diminutive halfback came on for Kah’nal Ngawati in the 55th minute and exemplified the warrior spirit of the team, as he made 6 physical tackles, made a crucial clean preventing a turnover and held up an NZ Schools player, leading to a Māori U18 scrum. It is not often that a replacement halfback actually adds real value to a side under defensive pressure but that is exactly what Reiri-Paku did.
When the whistle blew, it was obvious what the victory meant to this Māori Under 18 Ngā Whatukura team, with great scenes of jubilation. Let me then wrap up with, what I believe, is an appropriate Māori proverb, a Whakataukī, in honor of the team:
Itiiti rearea, teitei kahikatea ka taea.
“Although the rearea (the korimako bird) is small it can ascend the lofty heights of the Kahikatea tree.” Few would have given this Māori U18 side much chance against the much more fancied NZ Schools side. But like the rearea, by working hard and putting all their energy into it, they too can and have been able to reach rare and lofty heights.
-
My impression watching live was that the Māori loosies were much more effective than their NZS opponents. Very aggressive at the breakdown and in the tackle. Again, I was surrounded by a lot of the parents/family of the players, and the Māori supporters were much more vocal.
I had mentioned this before the squads were announced, but the NZS like to shoe-horn in players so many end up playing out of position, particularly backs. Both Pahulu and Guerin are centres, while Stanley has been playing 2nd 5 for AGS. That wasn't really the case last year.
I was glad Waitai-Haenga got to play because he is a very good midfielder who will now probably go to the Warriors.
I can't imagine that Tito will be re-appointed for 2025.
Australia wins 2024 Trans-Tasman Trophy
