Plenty at stake for u-19 team
There is more than just provincial pride on the line as the Manawatu under-19s take on Canterbury in their first match of the Jock Hobbs Memorial national under-19 championship in Taupo today.
The tournament doubles as a trial for prospective 2017 New Zealand Under-20s players.
Manawatu have a number of players who have decent shots of cracking the national squad.
Coach Aaron Good said the magnitude of the tournament was not lost on his side.
‘‘It is a big three games in their careers moving forward,’’ he said. ‘‘There are a couple of boys who are knocking on the door for the 20s. As a team we need to perform to give guys like that the best opportunity to make it.’’
Flanker Liam Giltrap has the best shot after being part of the New Zealand Secondary Schools team last year, while hooker Chris Cairns, centre Ueta Tufuga and first five-eighth Tyla Mcneill are others who could get a call up to the national training camp with a good tournament.
Good added wing Ben Wurthmuller and halfback Matt Hathaway as others with plenty to prove.
‘‘One success story out of the campaign so far is Matt
Hathaway,’’ he said. ‘‘He has been very good.’’
But Manawatu’s campaign gets off to a challenging start with Canterbury in an effective quarterfinal after qualifying second in the Hurricanes competition.
Good said they took a lot of confidence from their 38-13 loss to Wellington last weekend.
‘‘We took some real big lessons out of it it from what the standard is to be a top four side in the country,’’ he said.
‘‘We did not play as well as we hoped, but at 60 minutes it was 19-13 and we were in striking distance. We are not going to play a better 19s team than we played last weekend.’’
But he was expecting a different style of play from Canterbury.
‘‘They are a different beast. They do not have the physical freaks that Wellington do. I watched some footage of them and they are very structured-styled play.’’
Good made minimal changes to his side for the Canterbury match.
Wurthmuller has a shoulder injury so Bulls wing Junior Ainea comes in to replace him, while Patohe Ropoama-third comes in at openside flanker.
‘‘[Ropoama-third] has been pretty impressive off the bench in the last couple of weeks and it is too hard to ignore him.’’
Ropoama-third’s inclusion in the starting side means Giltrap shifts to the blindside flank, while Massimo Kiri Kiri drops to the bench.