Turbos to honour secondary school roots
The Manawatu Turbos will pay tribute to their secondary schools when they run out for their second match of the Mitre 10 Cup season against Taranaki on Saturday.
The side will ditch the traditional green and white socks for the match, instead pulling on the socks of their respective high schools.
Manawatu Rugby Union chief executive Shannon Paku said it was a great chance for the players to reflect on how far they have come.
‘‘With Property Brokers being our match day sponsor as well as our principal sponsor of Manawatu Secondary Schools rugby, this is a great opportunity for the team to pay tribute to the schools that helped develop them into the men they are today.’’
Paku has fond memories of playing rugby with Hato Paora College.
‘‘Whether it was playing for the Blue Knights in the under 15 competition or the 1st XV, there was always great pride in pulling on my Hato Paora rugby jersey. I remember the buzz when playing a traditional match on the No 1 field and the entire school present cheering us on with haka and chants. These are the special memories created through experiencing rugby at secondary school level.’’
When the Turbos don their school socks this weekend Palmerston North Boys’ High School will be well represented with 12 members of the 2019 including captain Jamie Booth, Johnny Galloway, Nick Grogan, Jackson Hemopo, Tom Hughes, Brayden Iose, Ngani Laumape, Liam Mitchell, Fraser Stone, Andre Taylor, Ben Werthmuller and Rob Thompson.
Taylor has the rare distinction of pulling on a Turbos jersey while still a student at Palmerston North Boys High School in 2006.
There are also five players from Feilding High School including 2018 New Zealand Secondary Schools representative Josiah Maraku along with Griffin Culver, Aaron Smith, Hamish Northcott and Nick Crosswell.
Other Manawatu schools represented in the Turbos squad include Queen Elizabeth College (Nehe Milner-skudder), Dannevirke High School (Rhys Pedersen) and Tu Toa (Otere Black).
Sione Asi played for both St Peter’s College and Tu Toa before shifting to Otago Boys’ High School where he made his mark and cracked the New Zealand Secondary Schools Barbarians squad.
From the neighbouring regions, Sam Malcolm came from Whanganui High School, Te Rangatira Waitokia and Adam Boult came from Cullinane College and James Tofa spent most of his years at Horowhenua College before shifting to Rotorua Boys’ High School.
Three players were schooled overseas with Sunao Takizawa in Japan, while Fa’alelei Sione went to Calwell High School in Canberra and Paulo Leleisiuao went to Nudgee College in Brisbane.
Two Christchurch schools are represented in the squad in Christchurch Boys’ High School (Ben Wyness) and Christ’s College (Samu Tawake). Tawake also played for Marist Brothers High School in Fiji.
Sam Stewart came through Southland Boys’ High School and Fraser Armstrong from Hamilton Boys’ High School, while Sione Tu’ipulotu played for Wesley College.
The Property Brokers Manawatu Premier One Secondary Schools final between the Manukura 1st XV and Palmerston North Boys’ High School 2nd XV will be played as the curtain raiser to the Turbos kicking off at 11.45am at Central Energy Trust Arena.