NPC - news, injuries etc
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. Tei Walden returning to Taranaki Otago has lost one of its most experienced players with midfielder Tei Walden leaving the province for Taranaki.
Midfielder Walden to return to Taranaki
Otago has lost one of its most experienced players with midfielder Tei Walden leaving the province for Taranaki. Walden (24) comes from Taranaki...
Walden (24) comes from Taranaki and was head boy at Francis Douglas Memorial College before heading south to study at the University of Otago.He first played for Otago in 2013 and has played 47 games for the province. He captained the side this year when regular skipper Sam Anderson-Heather was injured.
He was awarded the David Latta Trophy this year for the best player throughout the season, as judged by his peers. The trophy is voted on by players on a points system for every game.
The second five-eighth is contracted to the Highlanders for next season so should play some of his club rugby in Dunedin for the Southern club.
Otago Rugby Football Union general manager Richard Kinley said it was always disappointing to lose players but Walden had given good service to the province and simply wanted to be closer to his family.
His brother Josh, a halfback, had also previously played for Otago but was not selected this season and has now picked up a two-year contract with a club in Hong Kong.
Tei Walden is part of the Highlanders leadership group and is also well respected by fellow players.
His departure is the latest in a series of defections from this year's Otago team.
Halfback Jono Ruru has gone to Auckland and new All Black flanker Dillon Hunt is heading to North Harbour.
Prop Craig Millar has linked with the Sunwolves Super Rugby team and is expected to join up with a Japanese top league side after the Super Rugby season finishes.
First five-eighth Hayden Parker has also joined the Sunwolves and his future may also be in Japan for the rest of the year.
Prop Hisa Sasagi had been called into the Clermont side, a powerhouse in the French Top 14 league. He was set to join the club as medical cover for former Hurricanes prop Loni Uhila but was not cleared by the club's medical staff who discovered an issue with his back. He never played a game for the club.
Sasagi, who played for Samoa on its recent northern hemisphere tour, has now returned to New Zealand.
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@southernmann Wow, thanks for posting that. There's an awful lot of info in that one article!
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New Auckland Rugby Union Board Chair
The Auckland Rugby Union has a new Board Chairman in Stu Mather. Following on the back of 12 months of significant...
The Auckland Rugby Union has a new Board Chairman in Stu Mather. Following on the back of 12 months of significant change with a new CEO in Jarrod Bear, a new Mitre 10 Cup coach in Alama Ieremia, and a new Board Director in All Black legend Keven Mealamu. Elected on the 18th of December at the first board meeting after the ARU 2017 AGM, Mr Mather is now charged with leading NZ’s largest Provincial Union.
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Former Northland CEO Jeremy Parkinson head to take over CEO role at Taranaki.
Be a nice step up with the $$$ and resources they have compared to Northland.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/100098289/new-taranaki-rugby-boss-swaps-taniwha-for-ferdie
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@taniwharugby just don’t let him get involved with recruitment,especially if your looking for props..Argentinian Props are not his specialty
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@steven-harris to be fair, I would say Derren (who was our coach at the time?) would probably have had a bit to do with that too...and again TBF, 1 of those props was capped by Argentina, so I would think the expectation that he was considerably better than he was fair.
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Otago have a new head coach: Ben Herring
From Otago's FB page:
The ORFU are stoked to announce the appointment of Ben Herring as our new Otago Mitre 10 Cup Coach! Some quick facts about Ben... ✔️ He was the Otago Mitre 10 Cup assistant coach in 2016 ✔️ Ben played club rugby in Dunedin while at University for Alhambra Union, being voted Otago "club player of the year" in his first two consecutive seasons ✔️ While still young, Ben has an EXTENSIVE coaching career and brings a huge amount of knowledge and experience, from coaching roles with teams such as: Leicester Tigers, Nottingham Rugby, the NEC Green Rockets, the Canadian 15's and 7's and most recently The Highlanders, The Sunwolves and the Japanese International team "The Brave Blossoms". Ben will start with the team in January 2018! -
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I'd have been stoked if Canterbury made Jon Preston head coach when Glen leaky defence Delany announced he was leaving. Instead they picked Maddock who seemed like an appointment based on walking through the corridor of the CRFU as Delany handed in his notice.
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@wurzel Does it really matter who Canterbury appoint when they win it every year anyway?
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@african-monkey excellent point. We are fucking good aren't we?
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The ODT is reporting Fletcher Smith is signing with Waikato. Otago is well and truly being picked apart.
Stuff
