Whalers can boast international rep
FOR someone who only took up the sport last year, Jong Hoon Lee already has an impressive rugby league CV.
The 20yearold will line up in the second row for the Otago Whalers at the North Ground against the Northern Swords.
Victory will earn one team a promotionrelegation match against the bottom side in the country’s top flight competition.
However, if they make it that far, Lee will not make the trip to Auckland.
That is because he will be representing Asia at the Emerging Nations Tournament in Sydney.
The side will play teams from Africa, Latin America and the Mediterranean over a twoweek period.
While he has lived in New Zealand since he was a year old, Lee was eligible to play for Asia through being born in South Korea.
After trying to make the team was suggested to him, he submitted his CV and was selected.
It was a rapidly growing CV he put forward, too.
Alongside having spent two years in a Whalers uniform, he has represented the New Zealand Universities team and also made the Southern Zone Scorpions.
A thirdyear neuroscience student, Lee only took up the sport last year.
Before that he played rugby union at school in Queenstown before joining a Southern colts team in his first year in Dunedin.
However, after following a friend who played for the University league side, he decided to make the switch.
‘‘I had one game and it was much more fun.
‘‘You get to run more, tackle more and just so much more involved.’’
His experience in rugby union — where he was a midfield back — helped him in league.
Many of the skills translated and while the sports had their differences, he felt he made the switch the right way.
‘‘It is different, but league’s quite a simple game.
‘‘If you know how to play touch, it kind of translates.
‘‘It’s a little bit more difficult going from league to union, but going from union to league — I found it quite easy.’’
The physical impact of league was far more pronounced, too.
Lee often made 30plus tackles per game, as opposed to a handful in union and was running the ball with far more regularity.
He enjoyed playing on the edges and felt his strength was his attacking game, in which he looked to go around his defender, rather than through him.
That is something he will look to do tomorrow, as the Whalers attempt to back up their lastsecond win over the Wellington Orcas last week.
The prospect of playing in the promotion relegation match was huge motivation, even if Lee would not be around to play.
‘‘It should probably be our hardest game of the season.
‘‘We’ve been looking real good, our fitness is up there, our attacking game is really good, our defence the whole season has been really good.
‘‘So hopefully we don’t make the same mistakes.
‘‘We’ve been giving away too many penalties, but if we don’t do that we should be fine.’’
Kickoff today is at 4.15pm.