Blues pain most certainly Ennor’s gain
It was a race to sign Auckland schoolboy star Braydon Ennor.
The Blues weren’t negligent, they did their best. The Crusaders won. Now wing/centre Ennor, 21, looks set to be the next big ticket item in Super Rugby.
Ennor was playing in the St Kentigern College first XV’s midfield when Crusaders Academy manager Aaron Webb and talent identification manager Dave McLennan suggested a move to Christchurch in 2016.
Ennor was flown to the Garden City to inspect the facilities and meet key members of the club, offered a spot in the academy and later enrolled at the University of Canterbury to study commerce.
The Blues made their pitch, and Ennor says he wasn’t unhappy with their process. But the Crusaders still convinced him to ship south.
‘‘It happened pretty early for me, I guess,’’ Ennor says. ‘‘I was really struggling [with the decision], just juggling the idea of where I should end up.
‘‘Obviously it was a big move for me, looking at the Crusaders down here and the Blues up there. I definitely gave it a lot of thought. I came down and looked at what the Crusaders were offering, and the type of rugby they were playing. I really liked what they were doing down here and decided this would be the place for me.’’
In 2017, Ennor represented Canterbury, and made eight Super Rugby appearances when he was named in the Crusaders squad the following year.
This season he has appeared in all three games, getting runs at centre and on the wing, and scored a try in the 22-12 win over the Reds last weekend.
It would be difficult to counter the argument Ennor made the correct decision to join the powerhouse Crusaders club. In his final year at school he would have watched the Blues secure just three victories, and finish second last on the log. Yet the former Blues age-group player maintains it was a difficult call to decline the chance to remain in Auckland.
‘‘Yeah, it is always tough. I came down here to Christchurch and didn’t really know anyone. All my friends and family were up in Auckland and I grew up there my whole life. But it has worked out all right so far.’’
The Ennor story is not an unfamiliar one, with many talented players electing to exit the Blues region. New Blues coach Leon MacDonald, like his predecessors Tana Umaga, John Kirwan and Pat Lam, is no doubt desperate to find the solutions to put an end to the diaspora but it’s proving a complex issue to solve.
The Crusaders, meanwhile, continue to put a shine on the rough diamonds who enter into their programme from the Blues’ catchment area.
Jack Goodhue, Andrew Makalio, Ereatara Enari and Jordan Taufua, members of the current squad, were raised in the region. Bryn Hall represented the Blues for a few years, before being signed by the Crusaders, and Mitchell Hunt wasn’t wanted despite being on Auckland’s books in 2015.
Knee injuries to Manasa Mataele and Israel Dagg – the former is gone for the season and the latter may be on the cusp of dropping the curtain on a long career – have created the chance for Ennor to be a regular starter for the Crusaders while he continues to study.
‘‘I am still doing a couple of papers, getting through that as much as I can,’’ Ennor said. ‘‘It has its moments; obviously when you have group assignments and that sort of thing and you are not in the country, or can’t make it to lectures, it makes it hard.
‘‘But there is always online lectures and people are willing to help.’’