SR U20s 2025
-
-
@Mauss said in SR U20s 2025:
So while the lineout is still a strength of players like Tengblad (and Eti to a lesser degree), other facets of the Kiwi lock’s core roles, such as maul defence and carrying in the tight, are not quite at the level required (yet). Tengblad’s slighter and lanky frame makes him susceptible to turnovers in the tight carry, while Eti’s decision-making in the maul defence – trying to drive through the centre of the Blues maul 5 metres from the try line in an uncoordinated manner – can be questionable
Fascinating analysis and a top notch write up. Tengblad is a such a top talent. Really looking forward to the Landers future with him involved.
This is an interesting observation, considering the players who make up the options for the Landers and Otago. He will likely form a long-term partnership with Holland. Who like him has all the skills. But, he is someone who at this point in his career can do both the tight stuff and dominate tackles. If Tengblad can follow the Holland development instead of the Pari Pari Parkinson route, he will be awesome. Seeing a picture of Tengblad on the Landers Instagram it does look like he is filling out a fair bit compared to some of those earlier clips. Will be funny when Holland is the shorter power lock for the Highlanders at 2.04m.
In the Landers U20s it is likely he will be playing Holland V2, Qunitin on the blindside. Replicating the tight six/lock the Landers like to run with the likes of Haig/Howden and even the shorter Renton. Allowing the six to take some of the pressure off him in the tight and allowing him to roam.
-
The Chiefs U20s should have a good set of locks this year. Vakasiuola, Eti and Tama Hodgson. The latter is sort of the forgotten man as he did his ACL in the Sanix Tournament so missed playing as a Y13. Hodgson made the 2022 Barbarians U18s as a Y12 and was Eti's locking partner for the Waikato U19s last year. Not quite as tall as the others but mobile and can play 6 too.
Based on photos I think Jayden Sa is still eligible too, but more a 6.
-
@SouthernMann The key for someone like Tengblad will probably be to just stay injury-free, which is of course easier said than done being 2m06. But if he can do that, I do think he can go far. He has a good combination of the physical and the cerebral, with a big engine and a very solid lineout brain.
Speaking of the Highlanders' future, the main thing that I think the future Landers pack is still missing is a primary carrying option. Both Broughton and Renton could be that guy but if we’re speaking ideal scenarios, a gamebreaker at Super Rugby level would add a lot. It's a real shame (for Highlanders fans) that someone like Lio-Willie ended up at the Crusaders. But either way, the forwards are shaping up well.
-
@Bovidae said in SR U20s 2025:
The Chiefs U20s should have a good set of locks this year. Vakasiuola, Eti and Tama Hodgson. The latter is sort of the forgotten man as he did his ACL in the Sanix Tournament so missed playing as a Y13. Hodgson made the 2022 Barbarians U18s as a Y12 and was Eti's locking partner for the Waikato U19s last year. Not quite as tall as the others but mobile and can play 6 too.
Based on photos I think Jayden Sa is still eligible too, but more a 6.
Hodgson had indeed slipped my mind. He’ll have a lot of competition in that Chiefs U20 squad for minutes but hopefully he can have a good tournament in Taupo and stake his claim.
I really like Jayden Sa but I’ve somehow convinced myself that he was an ’04 birth. But now I can’t find any information on his age, so I could be wrong. Sa would actually be a great option next to someone like Tengblad as he provides lots of carrying and grunt to the pack.
-
@Mauss said in SR U20s 2025:
@SouthernMann The key for someone like Tengblad will probably be to just stay injury-free, which is of course easier said than done being 2m06. But if he can do that, I do think he can go far. He has a good combination of the physical and the cerebral, with a big engine and a very solid lineout brain.
Speaking of the Highlanders' future, the main thing that I think the future Landers pack is still missing is a primary carrying option. Both Broughton and Renton could be that guy but if we’re speaking ideal scenarios, a gamebreaker at Super Rugby level would add a lot. It's a real shame (for Highlanders fans) that someone like Lio-Willie ended up at the Crusaders. But either way, the forwards are shaping up well.
Reuben Palmer could be that man.
-
@Mauss said in SR U20s 2025:
It's a real shame (for Highlanders fans) that someone like Lio-Willie ended up at the Crusaders.If Tony Brown sorted out the toxic environment and the “old boys” club not being very welcoming to the younger players he still probably would be.
-
@cgrant said in SR U20s 2025:
Reuben Palmer could be that man.
It’s an interesting thought but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tighthead lock be the primary, high-volume carrying option in Super Rugby. Tuipulotu last season for the Blues probably comes closest to that kind of thinking but even then he was still some way behind A. Ioane and Sotutu as ball carriers. It’s something that’s, as far as I know, pretty much limited to the Top 14 (Skelton, Meafou, P. Tuilagi, van der Mescht, ...).
Either way, it won’t be easy for the Highlanders to secure a big ball-carrier. With Akira Ioane and, most likely, Sotutu leaving Super Rugby, high-volume carriers will be in demand in the next few seasons.
-
@Mauss said in SR U20s 2025:
@cgrant said in SR U20s 2025:
Reuben Palmer could be that man.
It’s an interesting thought but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tighthead lock be the primary, high-volume carrying option in Super Rugby. Tuipulotu last season for the Blues probably comes closest to that kind of thinking but even then he was still some way behind A. Ioane and Sotutu as ball carriers. It’s something that’s, as far as I know, pretty much limited to the Top 14 (Skelton, Meafou, P. Tuilagi, van der Mescht, ...).
Either way, it won’t be easy for the Highlanders to secure a big ball-carrier. With Akira Ioane and, most likely, Sotutu leaving Super Rugby, high-volume carriers will be in demand in the next few seasons.
We should get an idea around Palmer come the NPC, especially if Holland is with the All Blacks. Interestingly if he is picked, and Holland is around it Will likely mean all three of the locks Holland, Tengblad and Palmer will be out of the same club, Dunedin.
With the other two, Tengblad and Holland likely to be seen as the premier locks I dont see a situation where Palmer will be starting and given an opportunity to be a primary ball carrier.
Otago and the Highlanders problem is we have been producing quite a few quality 6/lock hybrids. Oli Haig, Will Stodart and coming through too is the second Dutchman Quintin Holland. All primarily blindsides or eights who can play lock. Strong young men. Not primary ball carriers.
Probably due to the demographic down there we lack some of the guys who end up becoming those dominant eights. Semisi Tupou was that player at high school level. Just hasn't come on and is viewed as being a touch small.
Former Southland boys Justin Shaw is likely to be the U20s no8, and probably still needs some time in the gym. Konrad Toleafoa was the dominant eight in club rugby in Dunedin, however has been stuck behind Lio-Willie and Stodart for provincial opportunities.
Out of the group of named acadamey players on the website. None would be thought of as primary ball carriers. The young Rutledge is a small seven. Couple of the hookers have grunt.
-
@SouthernMann said in SR U20s 2025:
Former Southland boys Justin Shaw is likely to be the U20s no8, and probably still needs some time in the gym. Konrad Toleafoa was the dominant eight in club rugby in Dunedin, however has been stuck behind Lio-Willie and Stodart for provincial opportunities.
Out of the group of named acadamey players on the website. None would be thought of as primary ball carriers. The young Rutledge is a small seven. Couple of the hookers have grunt.
I watched a bit of Gregor Rutledge for the Barbarian U18s where he played at blindside. Industrious but, like you say, does not appear to be a big body. Shaun Kempton, one of the hookers, is a really smooth player (he should appear in my U20 front row preview). Good hands and a great understanding of space. But not really someone for the constant carries up the middle.
Max Ratcliffe might be the closest to that primary ball carrier within the Highlanders' high performance programme, he's very solid in contact. But perhaps not quite at the level of those more 'elite' up-and-coming carriers, like Malachi Wrampling, Mosese Bason, and Fletcher Anderson (and perhaps Patrick Tuifua, if he sticks around).
-
With the recent injury troubles at the Crusader hooker department, concerns have been expressed about the lack of depth in the position at the franchise. As it happens, three of the likely 2025 NZ U20 hookers have strong connections to the Crusader academy, with Manumaea Letiu and Eli Oudenryn being in the wider training squad while Shaun Kempton came through the same system before switching to the Highlanders. So I thought it was a good time to take a closer look at the 2025 crop of NZ U20 hookers and see how they could provide impact in the near future.
Spotlight: Ball-playing hookers
Hookers, much like midfielders amongst the backs, are often all-round players, equally proficient at manipulating the nuanced mechanisms of the maul as they are at rampaging down the tramlines like a full-blown winger. This all-round nature of the hooker, however, also has its potential downsides, with certain hookers fitting the expression, “Jack of all trades, master of none.” This type of hooker typically does his core roles well but often struggles to consistently impact the contest, lacking a concrete edge which makes their game stand out.One can argue, for example, that someone like Kianu Kereru-Symes was more adept at his core roles than his predecessor of the year before, Asafo Aumua. Aumua could struggle with his throwing and at times neglected some of the tasks expected of a front-rower, such as moving bodies at ruck time, in favour of carrying. But there is little doubt in anyone’s mind, I presume, about who impacted the game more, with Aumua scoring a freakish hat-trick in the 2017 U20 World Championship final and being a menace across the park throughout the entire tournament.
The 2025 class of NZ U20 hookers aren’t perfectly polished. All of them have their own flaws and work on’s, which is only to be expected of such young players. But what is positive to see is that they all clearly have an edge to their game, something that makes them stand out and which allows them to consistently impact the game. To further highlight this, I want to take a brief look at a game from 2023, the NZ Schools game against the NZ U18 Barbarians. All four hookers in this match – Manumaea Letiu and Shaun Kempton (NZ Schools), and Eli Oudenryn and Kaleb Tapara (NZ U18 Baabaas) – will come into consideration for selection for this year’s U20s team, making it an interesting game to focus on.
Letiu, who started this game as the starting 2 for NZ Schools, has already earned selection for the NZ U20s in 2024, and will be a strong favourite to claim a position in the 23 of this year’s selection. Letiu, like many before him, can sometimes struggle with hitting his target during the lineout, although it is by no means a worrying facet of his game at the moment. Where Letiu excels is his decision-making on attack. The Canterbury hooker has excellent offensive instincts, exemplified by his ability to put players into space and aided by his own dynamic body positioning when carrying, allowing him to get into the exact positions he wants to.
The Canterbury hooker’s playmaking abilities are perhaps already relatively well-known, after producing a bit of magic on the side-lines in the NZ Schools’ game against Australia U18 in 2023 and which appeared in the highlight reels:
Letiu with the flashy try assist against Australia U18 in 2023
But this is not some rare occasion for Letiu, his playmaking ability rather a consistent contribution to the collective team efforts. Early in the game against the NZ Barbarian U18s, for example, Letiu receives the ball unexpectedly after the Barbarian lineout goes astray.
Letiu setting up another try
In quick succession, he (1) runs into the space, (2) uses Tengblad as a decoy to beat a defender, and, when noticing Pledger running off his shoulder, (3) immediately passes to the latter for the try.
What Letiu is really good at, in other words, is keeping the game very simple: keep the ball in two hands, keep your options continuously open, and play into space.
Letiu's one step with the ball before passing fixes the defender
This passage of play is innocuous enough, but Letiu does everything right to fix his defender and make sure the line-break proceeds as smoothly as it can. Letiu’s combination of dynamic carrying and passing abilities make him a difficult player to contain from a defence’s perspective, as he has multiple ways to break the line.
His back-up in this game, Kempton, possesses a lot of similar strengths. Like Letiu before him, Kempton slotted in seamlessly as a distributing ball-player, both as part of a structured attacking shape as in more fluid counter-attacking situations.
Kempton excels as a distributor
Kempton is a quite lanky and slender hooker but what he lacks in size he makes up in speed and work-rate.
Kempton catches Cooper Roberts, makes the tackle and immediately gets back up to contest, leading to a turnover
Through his distributional and defensive ability, Kempton acts more like extra loose forward on the pitch than a typical front-rower, a role which is well-suited for providing impact of the bench.
While the NZ Schools hookers impacted the game through their passing and attacking vision, their Barbarian opponents – Eli Oudenryn and Kaleb Tapara – lived up to their team’s name and expressed themselves through barnstorming carrying and breakdown brutality. Oudenryn was a consistent menace at the breakdown in this game, constantly disrupting the NZ Schools’ attacking breakdown and successfully pilfering the ball on two occasions.
Oudenryn getting over the ball
Tapara, the youngest of the bunch (U19 in 2025), continued Oudenryn’s breakdown dominance while adding some real angry running to the game. Tapara provided a nice contrast to Letiu’s and Kempton’s subtlety on attack, by simply grabbing the ball and smashing into a bloke as hard as possible.
Kaleb the Barbarian
It’s a reliable facet of Tapara’s game to just run it straight, with another nice example to be found in the Chiefs U18 game against the Blues U18. As the play is clearly designed for this kind of run from the hooker, it’s clearly a known strength to his game.
The 2025 class of NZ U20 hookers is an intriguing mix of subtle skills and brute force, which could be cultivated into a potent weapon by a coaching group able to figure out a game plan to maximize those different skillsets. None of these young players are the finished product: Letiu and Kempton have a habit of going for the 50/50-play; Oudenryn needs to find ways to be more involved on the attack; and Tapara can improve his throwing. But they all have a genuine edge to their game which allows them to consistently impact the contest. And, especially in age grade rugby, this kind of edge is often a bigger contributor to winning rugby than sheer all-round solidity, as the game is a bit more loose, unstructured and forgiving to the occasional risky play.
Further points of discussion
The scrum, as always, will be an important part of the team’s overall performance. Sika Pole (Auckland) and Logan Wallace (Manawatu) will be the likely frontrunners for the starting jerseys, having been part of the 2024 NZ U20 squad. Wallace will have to improve his scrummaging, though, as he was penalized (correctly, in my opinion) multiple times for collapsing the scrum against the French U20s in their pool game. Wallace has a number of things going for him: he’s a big body with a solid engine and quick feet, which isn’t a very common profile. But if he can’t keep up the scrum then he might face some real competition for the spot. Someone like Apai Ma’u Hinkes (Counties Manukau), the Chiefs U20 prop, will stake his claim. Other tightheads, like Sione Mafi ( Ta$man) and Tamiano Ahloo (U19, Auckland) will come into consideration as well.Raharuhi Palmer (Waikato) and Kane Paranihi ( Ta$man) are hard-working props who were excellent for the Māori U18s in 2024 which could propel them into contention for spots. Others, like Robson Faleafa (Auckland), Tonga Helu (Canterbury) and Samiuela Moimoi ( Ta$man) have earned representative honours in recent years so will have a shot to impress once again during the Super Rugby U20s tournament.
While it’s hard to predict how a scrum’s going to go, the coaches will have their work cut out for them finding the right combinations. There’s talented props in the group but, as far as I can tell, few scrumming specialists. The set-piece might be a bit of a challenge for this group which, to be fair to them, is not that uncommon for the NZ U20s.
-
I assume that Kaleb Tapara had some injuries last year as he wasn't involved in the U19s. It would be good to see him in the Chiefs U20s this year. One hooker that will be there is Tom McCarthy. He was the backup hooker for the Chiefs U20s in 2024 and the Waikato U19 captain. Mobile but his throwing needs improvement - a common problem with age-group hookers.
If Xavier Leota (Kelston BHS, Blues) has left school I think he is a strong chance to make the NZ U20s.
-
With the upcoming Sevens tournament in Vancouver providing rugby fans another opportunity to watch Oli Mathis in glorious action, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at his evolution as a player in recent seasons and reflect on whether he would be best suited to a place on the wing or to a spot among the forwards for the U20s.
Spotlight: Rugby riddles in the dark
I’m guessing we’re going to be having this discussion for the next decade or something, so I might as well get in early: where, exactly, do you play Oli Mathis? There is little doubt in my mind that Mathis is a generational-kind of player. What stands out in particular in this regard is the sheer range of his attacking weapons. Mathis can beat defenders in a number of ways, be it his raw pace, his fend, his offloading ability, through chips, through steps, swerves, spins and hesitation moves. His highlight reel, for such a young player, is bordering on the obscene.
A very small sample of Mathis' highlight reel
But the question remains, of course, whether this attacking skillset is what you want from your openside flanker. A player like Ardie Savea quickly comes to mind: outrageously talented, without a doubt, but questions around the number on his back have never gone away. Then again, it’s not particularly clear how an openside flanker circa 2025 should be understood either, with a plethora of player-types filling the jersey across the Test landscape.
What makes a flanker a flanker?
To understand what makes a great 7, we can turn to some of the luminaries who have defined the position in the 21st century. Back in 2008, the IRB media program ‘Total Rugby’ wanted to give further insight into some of the more technical facets of the different positions in rugby and what precisely defined them. For the position of openside, they interviewed players such as Richie McCaw, Neil Back, Josh Kronfeld and Richard Hill, asking them what exactly makes a good 7 and what constitutes some of its key strengths and responsibilities. The full article is archived here:
While the position of openside has undoubtedly changed greatly since 2008 – with the fetcher-role especially becoming a collective task rather than just the primary job of the 7 – what these legends of the game answered back then still strongly resonates with modern day Test Rugby.
First, let’s listen to what the open side master himself, King Richie, has to say. “My main role as a flanker is, defensively, to tie in with the back line to ensure that the defence works well. On attack I think my primary role at first phase is to look after our ball. You attack the back line and I'm usually the first person there to make sure we secure that ball. Thirdly I put pressure on break downs and make sure I disturb their ball and try to turn their ball over.”
McCaw presents the classic picture of the openside: the 7 (a) acts as a connector between forwards and backs, (b) secures ball on attack, and (c) disrupts the opposition breakdown. Conventional stuff. But when pushed a little bit further on the nuances of the position, McCaw becomes somewhat more philosophical and wades into the spiritual domain of the so-called intangibles: “The one skill that I think has helped me over the years, and I think it’s quite important for an open side flanker, is anticipating a little bit what’s going to happen, where are breakdowns are going to end up. Actually anticipating when there’s often a shorter way to go, because even if you’re quick and you’re fit if you’re running further than you need to and your opposite man goes on the other side he’s going to be there. So I think understanding where other players are going to end up is one of the important skills.”
What McCaw is referring to here is something akin to game sense: the ability to see play unfold before it’s actually happened. How is that player going to fall into the tackle? What angle of entry is that forming ruck going to allow? When and where is the opposition line going to break?
Richard Hill, the World Cup-winning English flanker, gave a very similar insight: “An ability to realise when someone's tackled, whether to go in with your hands, whether you wait for the tackle to take place or for all parties involved to fall to the floor and then see if you can step over. Or sometimes knowing that if someone’s made a tackle, you actually back away.”
A supreme flanker, in other words, is as much an athletic specimen (Neil Back: “I think you’ve got to be a destructive tackler”; McCaw: “I think the big part outside of the actual rugby is the conditioning side and fitness. I put a lot of work into being fit, it’s a big part of my game”) as a rugby savant, constantly analysing the state of play on attack and defence. Josh Kronfeld, in his typically eloquent style, summed it up as follows: “You want to be able to be doing stuff, grovelling on the ground as well as doing the airy fairy stuff upright with the ball in hand so you have to be pretty well rounded in terms of your rugby skills.” The article finished with some advice from McCaw for any young kid who wanted to follow in his footsteps: “[T]hat’s what I tell to younger kids: try to be as close to the ball as often as possible.”
The fascinating world of ruck involvements
Oli Mathis would’ve been around three years old at the time of these interviews, undoubtedly already a rugby ball in his hands running around the family farm in Waihi. But how well has he actually listened to the greats of the game in the development of his flanker play? That’s what we’re going to try and find out here.Mathis obviously scores well on a number of these facets, such as conditioning, handling skills, support play and attacking vision. He often sees a line-break happen before it has actually occurred and is more often than not in a good position to further link the play. He will accelerate into the gap anticipating the offload, and he will try to find shortcuts in attacking support. Other aspects, however, such as destructive tackling or ball-securement, are things which are much harder to bring into view, with Mathis’ proficiency at these roles still requiring a closer look. How well and how often does Mathis shift bodies at the breakdown? How close to the ball does he actually play?
Stats on ruck involvements are a way of getting closer to an answer to these questions. It allows us to get an insight into what kind of openside profile a player has. Does he play close to the source of the ball (high number of ruck attendances)? Does he act more like a cleaner on attack or as a disrupter of opposition ball (attacking versus defensive ruck attendance numbers)? Does he play close to the edges of the law or is he more someone who functions as a glue guy alongside other cleaners (high numbers in positive/negative impact versus high numbers in neutral impact)?
Ruck involvement statistics, in other words, are valuable tools for a deeper insight. But they are not perfect. They contain a considerable subjective factor (what constitutes a positive impact at the ruck?) and they aren’t easy to find or record. Still, I’ve tried to gather some data on Mathis’ ruck involvements across the three 2023 NZ Schools’ games (v. Barbarians U18; v. Australia U18 1; v. Australia U18 2), classifying these involvements into different categories: breakdown attendance (attacking and defensive), positive, neutral and negative impacts, and breakdown steals.
But what exactly constitutes positive, neutral or negative impacts in my view? Neutral impact is simple: the ruck attendance didn’t make a material difference, either in a good or bad way. A positive impact, on other hand, means that the ruck attendance had a clear effect to the good, e.g. a clean preventing a clear turnover opportunity, a breakdown penalty won at the defensive ruck, an effective clean allowing for lightning-quick ball, opposition ball has been slowed down, etc. A negative impact, finally, has left the team in a worse place than before: the ball has been turned over, a penalty has been given away, the own attacking ball has been effectively slowed down by the opposition.
To get an idea what we’re looking for, we can turn to this chart made by Nick Bishop for RugbyPass, on the statistical breakdown of different Super Rugby Pacific opensides.
Source: Nick Bishop, “How the line between forwards and backs is becoming a blur”, 20 May 2024, https://www.rugbypass.com/plus/how-the-line-between-forwards-and-backs-is-becoming-a-blur/On the basis of this chart, Bishop could show how someone like McReight had added an attacking carrying game to his breakdown specialty, presenting a profile relatively unique in the competition. It’s a way of bringing into view an openside’s ability to combine the many roles the like of McCaw, Back, Hill and Kronfeld have outlined.
Some numbers
Here, I’ll compare some of Mathis’ numbers against other sevens of a similar age profile and against similar opposition, Micah Fale (v. Australia U18 ’24) and Johnny Lee (v. Australia U20 ’24).So first, let’s take a look at what some of the raw numbers, albeit of very limited sample size, indicate.
These limited stats do paint a picture of three very different opensides, one playing far away from the source with limited ruck involvements (Mathis), one who plays very close to it with a focus on securing ball (Lee), and one who represents a mix of the two (Fale). While someone like Mathis appears to be very selective in the rucks that he chooses to attend, someone like Lee, on the other hand, can be described as a workhorse in that area, constantly following the ball around the field rather than letting the ball come to him.
A flanker or a winger-in-disguise?
If we turn away from the numbers and actually look at Mathis’ game more closely, the stats do seem to reflect certain playing tendencies. Mathis’ first instinct is, first and foremost, to stay alive for any possible attacking opportunity. This has obvious advantages, as it allows his speed, strength in contact and offloading ability to be utilized to the utmost when an opportunity arises. It also has downsides, though, especially when the opposition is targeting the breakdown and slowing down attacking ball.In the game against the Barbarian U18s, for example, with a 5-metre attacking scrum close to the Barbarian try-line, Mathis’ first job as the openside should be to clear the ruck on his side of the field as efficiently and quickly as possible, so Pledger, the 9, can create width as swiftly as possible in order to overwhelm the defence with superior numbers. Instead, Mathis stays on his feet waiting for the potential offload, allowing the opposition to slow down the ball and reorganize on defence.
Instead of aggressively clearing, Mathis is passive
Mathis’ decision-making around the breakdown, at least in these particular games, was too much focused around staying on his feet, leading to both a lack of physical impact on attack when clearing the ruck as well as presenting the opposition with opportunities on defence, his hesitation to contest the breakdown allowing the Barbarian U18s quick ball and line-breaks.
Questionable decision-making around the breakdown
Josh Kronfeld’s wise words come to mind here: it’s not enough as a flanker to just be doing the “airy fairy stuff upright with ball in hand”. “Grovelling on the ground”, messing up opposition ball by flying into the ruck, sticking hands into places they shouldn’t be, and rolling into the wrong but right place, are as much part of the job of being a flanker as is making the spectacular carries through opposition defences.
Turning it around
Alright, so much for the worrying signs. The attentive reader might now speculate that I’m making a case for Mathis to being turned into a back, where he can prioritize being an offensive dynamo while allowing the tight, groundwork stuff to the less-flashy forwards. And, to be honest, if you’d asked me this question in December 2023, I might have agreed with you.But this is the thing with Oli Mathis which might be the quality which truly makes him special. He does have great instincts and, more importantly, he shows constant signs of being able to evolve his game. First, his instincts. While his radar wasn’t always working perfectly in the NZ Schools games, there were signs that, if he shifted his focus to the breakdown, he could make a strong and immediate impact.
Clean steal by Mathis
The further evolution to his game became apparent in the 2024 Bunnings NPC season, where, in his games at 7 for Waikato, he showed signs of being able to combine the airy fairy stuff with getting stuck into the breakdown as well. Take a look at his ruck involvement numbers, for example, in his game against Bay of Plenty.
From an average of only 13 ruck involvements as the NZ Schools openside, Mathis’ numbers have shot up to 28 involvements, focusing much more on both securing the ball as well as attacking the opposition breakdown. While he showed hesitation to go off his feet in the NZ Schools games, for Waikato, Mathis was flying into the ruck to clear out bodies.
Aggressive and effective cleans by Mathis
This is an openside with a clearly different focus, making sure that opposition threats around the breakdown are first dealt with, before looking for any potential carrying opportunities. Throughout the NPC season, Mathis showed an increased emphasis on physicality, often combined with excellent technique in the tackle, for example. At times, he could still struggle to effectively shift bigger bodies.
Mathis loses the physical battle at the breakdown
But that is only to be expected of a young, not yet fully physically matured player. What is important, is that he has shown a more complete array of flanker-skills with increased ruck involvements while still retaining his freakish attacking abilities around the field.
Finding the best of both worlds
The goal for Mathis, ultimately, will be to find a balance, one where he still carries out his responsibilities as an openside but where he is able to pinpoint opportunities to drift away from the breakdown in order to sniff out attacking opportunities. This will ultimately come down to his own development as a rugby player and decision-maker, the so-called vision and instincts expounded by the likes of Kronfeld and McCaw. Even for rugby royalty like McCaw, this was something that needed to be learned and developed: “As a young player I used to always chase the ball or be as close to the ball as often as possible to be effective and I perhaps have refined this a little bit now. But if you have those sorts of instincts, then you are going to be able to work out where you are effective and where you’re not.” Mathis’ first instincts are probably diametrically opposed to those of McCaw, with the former too quickly straying away from the breakdown action rather than stick too closely to the ball like the latter. But he too can refine his own instincts and find the road to the best of both worlds. The 2025 U20 season should present Mathis with an excellent opportunity to further hone these instincts in the 15-man game, combining with his fellow loose forwards to dominate both in the tight and the loose.Potential combinations
Speaking of other loose forwards, there are plenty of candidates who will be competing for starting and extended squad positions. Mathis’ teammate at the NZ Sevens, Joey Taumateine, will most likely be vying for the number eight shirt alongside 2024 NZ U20 representative, Mosese Bason. Rupeni Raviyawa, the Fijian number eight from Feilding High School, could be an interesting option as well, although he might not be eligible for the U20 side.Micah Fale, still U19 in 2025, will do his best to unseat Mathis from the openside position. Looking closely at his 2024 NZ Barbarians U18 game against Australia, one focus for Fale will be fitness and conditioning. In that game, he started out like a rocket, carrying, tackling and cleaning rucks like a madman. But it became quickly clear that it was a tempo that he couldn’t hold up for an entire game, his engine already running low near the end of the first half. In the second half, he became much more passive, drifting to the edges and waiting for the play to come to him rather than attack it, like he did at first. One reason for this will be the weight he added on in the previous year. If he can keep up his first-half pace through improved fitness, he will be a real asset at U20 level, either starting or on the bench.
The blindside flank has plenty of potential suitors as well. Fabian Holland’s younger brother, Quinten, might feature, his lineout ability and cleaning prowess a complementary skillset to Mathis’ dynamism in the loose. Others, like Finn McLeod and Lenz Morunga-Itunu, have shown plenty of promise as well, both McLeod and Morunga-Itunu having already displayed real attacking prowess on the edge combined with solid breakdown work.
-
@Mauss Great analysis again.
Often at age-group level the loose forward role seems to be geared to the player's strengths (mobility, speed, ball-carrying, etc). Even from his early years at HBHS Mathis was often stationed out wide to use his express pace. He was also a middle distance runner at school so has the endurance to go with the speed. If you look at photos Mathis is slowly adding weight with S&C since leaving school.
I've seen a lot of Mathis and Fale and they are completely different body shapes. Fale is shorter and muscular but is quick (refer to the try he set up in one of the NZ-Aust schools tests).
It will be interesting to see the SR U20 squads, and from a Chiefs perspective I hope the three players in the NZ Sevens programme are allowed to play in Taupō. Jayden Sa is definitely in the Chiefs U20s, but must be injured currently. As far as other loose forwards to throw into the mix, I'd add Randall Baker from the Blues.
-
@Bovidae said in SR U20s 2025:
Often at age-group level the loose forward role seems to be geared to the player's strengths (mobility, speed, ball-carrying, etc). Even from his early years at HBHS Mathis was often stationed out wide to use his express pace. He was also a middle distance runner at school so has the endurance to go with the speed. If you look at photos Mathis is slowly adding weight with S&C since leaving school.
It definitely makes sense to focus on the strengths but seeing how Mathis approached some of those breakdowns at NZ Schools level did have me a bit worried for a while. I don’t think he’ll ever be a really conventional flanker but when you can do the things he does, I suppose you don’t have to be. Then again, the thing which also really stood out to me with Mathis, especially at NPC level, was his ability to repeat his technical actions, in the tackle, carry and clean. This might be a bit of a strange comparison, but his body control kind of reminded me of someone like Van der Flier. Just really accurate in his execution and ability to repeat.
Fale is going to be a very good player. Like Mathis, he’s put on a lot of weight and I suspect he still needs to readjust his conditioning somewhat. It was also noticeable at the Global Youth Sevens where he wasn’t really able to sustain the same level for the entire game. But I’m sure that’ll come in the next year or so.
I’m going to try and watch some more of Randall Baker. I’ve seen a few games in which he played but he hasn’t been that noticeable to me. But I’ll try to look a bit closer. I must admit I’m more excited by the current Blues U19 group: Cruiz Simpson, Aio Keith, Caleb Woodley and Noah Gregory all have really impressed me in the past year. Again, if they have a great SR U20 tournament, no reason they couldn’t make the NZ squad this year already.
-
What happens between the U20 squads and the super rugby 2nd 15 like the Hunters?
Who takes priority if there are playera in both teams? -
@Left-Right-Out-0 said in SR U20s 2025:
What happens between the U20 squads and the super rugby 2nd 15 like the Hunters?
Who takes priority if there are playera in both teams?The U20 tournament is in about one months time so those players will be focused on preparation for that between now and then. It will be dependent on whether the SR U20 team has a warm-up game on the same day as a Development game. There will be a few that are now part of the main SR squad as injury cover (e.g., Letiu) that would exclude them from playing U20s, but generally they are available to play as it's only an 8-day tournament.
