2019 under 20's
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Its an odd mix of players but heavily weighted to the BOP academy, with one or two old hands and even a couple of Japanese players who are over as part of their development program.
BTW, I agree with what you say about Mua but hes been getting better progressively better and is playing up a storm at club level so I'm prepared to avoid judgement until he plays a bit more at the higher level.
It should be an interesting game despite the shite weather.
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@Dice yea he certainly was the sort of player fans would flock to see! Interesting to note that he made himself unavailable for the 20s the year he was eligible due to his religious beliefs. Not the same as brother Jeriah. Hope he goes on and does well.
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@Stargazer said in 2019 under 20's:
Just read on OBU (Wellington) instagram that lock Caleb Delany has been called into the NZU20s camp as injury cover. I don't know who's injured, but it's not Taine Plumtree.
He has played the majority of the time on the blindside flank in the seven games he has played for the College Old Boys-Unversity club team
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Coach Craig Philpott said one of the key requirements heading into a tournament was getting the players connected and a big part of that had been achieved on the Gold Coast last month at the Oceania tournament. "We're a little bit underdone compared to other teams who go to the World Cup in terms of tough games which is one of the reasons we wanted to play Bay of Plenty this week, to play a Mitre 10 Cup squad and play guys that are adults and who've been playing the game for a while and are going to test us. "It was good to be able to get that hit-out under our belt compared to other teams that have had seven or eight Test matches building up to this World Cup," he said.Playing on turf, as New Zealand's Black Ferns Sevens experienced a few weeks ago, exposed the skin to turf burns and involved a lot of tape being applied to grazes. Philpott said the important thing in that regard was to look after any scrapes or grazes and to be professional in the rehabilitation from those sorts of things.The nature of the tournament had changed in more recent years. New Zealand teams dominated the event in its inaugural years because Philpott New Zealand had a better understanding of the value of such a tournament for their national side. "Teams have started to realise this is a really good launching pad for young men to play at a pretty high level then go back [home] and within a year or two they're in their national team. "So they've started to resource their teams really well and that's seen by the amount of money they're putting into their build-up to the tournament, their travelling overseas to play warm-up tournaments, that kind of thing. "What you're also seeing in the teams that are fully professional, in countries like England where all the players are in professional environments, you're starting to see those players be released a bit earlier so they can prepare with their teams and really go and have a good crack at this tournament," he said. As a result in the last six or seven years the quality of the opposition had advanced while the amount of preparation they did was complemented by the importance they put on winning the title. Like those overseas sides, New Zealand would be fielding players who have already appeared at higher levels in Investec Super Rugby or on the Mitre 10 Cup stage, but Philpott said those numbers were not as high as in recent years, although he didn't doubt more would be involved in the Mitre 10 Cup later in the year.Captain Kianu Kereru Symes, Philpott said, was an adaptable young man who had only been hooking for about 18 months, originally being a loosehead prop. He captained his Hastings Boys' High School team to the national schools championship while in his first year out of school he was in the Hawke's Bay Mitre 10 Cup playing more games than expected as a result of injury to Ash Dixon. He had grown up quickly in environment and he had taken advantage of opportunities and that would be needed in the World Cup campaign. -
@Stargazer Shit, Philpotts getting his excuses in early.
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So the Highlanders have signed some of the u/20s for next season interesting considering they need
1 TH
2 locks
3 LF’s
First five
MF
3 outside backs
I wouldn’t think there would be more than 5 or 6 in this group up to SR standard And 3 of those are at franchises already -
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@Stargazer agreed maybe another AB moving too. Fizzell just heard a rumour and it’s only a Rumour as of now.
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@Stargazer they do I thought they may go with Callum Grace
