JTBs full of giants

The Junior Tall Blacks will go big at the Under-19 World Cup.

Head coach Daryl Cartwright has named a quality 12-man squad for the tournament in Cairo, Egypt, in early July, with the strength in their forwards.

That’s where they have four players – Callum McRae, Angus McWilliam, Sam Waardenburg and Tai Wynyard – standing 2.08 metres or taller, which Cartwright said was unique for an under-19 team.

‘‘As coaches we stood on the sideline at our final camp and we see a guy at 7’1’’ and four others at 6’10’’ vying for places on the team.

‘‘That is a big lineup and would have to be the biggest junior national team ever assembled, bigger than most Tall Black teams from the past few years.

‘‘But there is also talent in the guard line and right across the roster, we have depth in all five positions and guys who have experience playing for New Zealand internationally. Not only do they bring talented skill sets but a good understanding of the game.’’

New Zealand received a tough draw for pool play, with one of the gold medal favourites France, South American power- house Argentina and world No 15 ranked South Korea to contend with.

Cartwright said it would be a big test for the young players. ‘‘Our goal is to come out of pool play into the round of 16 with as high a ranking as we can achieve, that will help us with the crossover game in the round of 16 (Group A crosses with Group B in the round of 16). Any kind of silverware would be nice of course, but we are not getting ahead of ourselves, our focus is on pool play and one game at a time.’’

Also in the squad are two of former Tall Black Pero Cameron’s sons, Flynn and Tobias, although unlike their dad who played as a forward, both are guards. Dan Fotu missed the squad through injury, as did Takiula Fahrensohn and Samson Aruwa.