Hurricanes 2020
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@Canes4life I'll be pissed if he gets a crack before any NZ player except JGB.
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A big plus for the Canes is that they have 30 returning players in that squad who will be out for revenge after narrowly losing to the Crusaders this year. That will fuel there season.
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@Stargazer Kobus van Wyk rooted from Paarl Gymnasium and is a very good player. Played most of his rugby in the midfield and changed to wing later. He competed with the two Bok wingers at the Sharks and probably the reason for him going.
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@OomPB yeah not a bad signing after losing Rayasi to the sevens, I'd hate to say it @Stargazer but he is probably the more proven performer and has a fairly handy highlight real on Youtube. The fact the Canes have so many outside backs could very well mean they are looking at JB as a first five option.
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@OomPB said in Hurricanes 2020:
@Stargazer Kobus van Wyk rooted from Paarl Gymnasium and is a very good player. Played most of his rugby in the midfield and changed to wing later. He competed with the two Bok wingers at the Sharks and probably the reason for him going.
Do you know why he was not selected by any of the other Sth African Super Teams? Other than they mostly appear to be in the poop financially there has to be a reason for this. Sth Africa kindly let the Hurricanes have that seven foot five lock last season and lowe and behold he broke down and was invalided out before a ball was even kicked, no wonder they did not want him! Hopefully this guy is not of the same fragility.
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@Canes4life He may or may not be a proven performer; he may or may not be good. I just don't agree with him blocking the development of young NZ players if he gets game time instead of any of (in alphabetical order) Aso, Barrett, Goosen, Lam, Laumape, Lowe, Proctor, Tiatia, Toala or Umaga-Jensen. I don't see why the Canes need this signing with all the talent already available in the squad. Why couldn't they replace Rayasi with a NZ player?
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@OomPB The Canes CEO on van Wyk -
Hurricanes chief executive Avan Lee said van Wyk's arrival came in large part due to coach John Plumtree's connections in South Africa, where he coached and played for 15 years over two stints.
"John has obviously spent a lot of time in South Africa, so he knows a lot of people over there. Kobus' name came up and then John and [assistant coach] Jason Holland had a look at him play and he was really keen to come out. "We're really excited by that. Super Rugby is an international competition, but having foreign players in New Zealand doesn't happen that often. He's been picked on ability first, but I think it's cool for fans to have a bit of international flavour." -
Six Magpies (I'm not counting Ban May
) must be an all time record.Unsure how McClutchie didn't make it amongst that bunch of 10s.
Canes should have dumped Prinsep for Blackwell as a loosie (he's not a lock but could be a good workhorse loosie) and given another NZ lock a spot.
I wonder what business case the Canes put forward to get an outside back from South Africa because we never have any decent outside backs in NZ (or in the Pacific for that matter).
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@Nepia @stargazer I agree. Centres, wingers and fullbacks are not on the skilled shortages list at Immigration NZ so he could not possibly qualify for a work permit under that category, particularly as there are plenty of available unemployed NZers able to do the job to a reasonable degree of competence. Perhaps he is coming as a backpacking fruit picker under that seasonal work work scheme thing who also plays a bit of rugby as an aside on Friday nights or on the weekend?
What is intriguing is how Stargazer missed out on picking this up when it is clearly listed in van Wyk's Wikipedia file that he is a Hurricanes player for 2020 with the notation as being up to date as of 3 September 2019. Up your game Stargazer, we rely on you to ferret these things out for us!
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@Canes4life said in Hurricanes 2020:
My top 23 for next year:
- Fraser Armstrong
- Dane Coles (c)
- Tyrel Lomax
- Scott Scrafton
- Isaia Walker-Leawere
- Vaea Fifita
- Ardie Savea
- Gareth Evans
- TJ Perenara
- James Marshall
- Ben Lam
- Ngani Laumape
- Vince Aso
- Wes Goosen
- Jordie Barrett
- Asafo Aumua
- Xavier Numia
- Alex Fidow
- James Blackwell
- Du Plessis Kirifi
- Jamie Booth
- Fletcher Smith
- Peter Umaga-Jensen
I know Blackwell is a coach's favorite but Leaupepe was impressive during the RWC (actually, he was even in the Top stats XV of the competition). He and IWL would make a very good pair in the second row, with Scrafton on the bench.
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@Higgins said in Hurricanes 2020:
Can anyone remember who our first fives were way back in the days when the Canes still played at Athletic Park and Mel Arnold (or whoever that curly haired 1st five from Canterbury) was in the squad. This years bunch of first fives might struggle to outrate that one.
Hah... Ummm wasn't it Bachop?
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@Daffy-Jaffy Canes backline with Goosen and van Wyk, thats very Afrikaans.
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@OomPB said in Hurricanes 2020:
@Daffy-Jaffy Canes backline with Goosen and van Wyk, thats very Afrikaans.
They have a Du Plessis in the pack as well.
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Kobus van Wyk - Wikipedia
Plumtree's scouting. Maybe need to change my favourite NZ franchise from Chiefs to Hurricanes.