AlhambraUnion
Last year: Eighth Coach: John Hyde (new) assistants: Rodney Stringer, Craig Sneddon
Squad. —
Forwards: Tristan Fuli, Huw Sutton, Utu Tapueluelu, Rewi Pomare, Ben Tuiomanufili, Kevin Vaeluaga, Alex Frood, Callum Donnelly, Louis Magaloogo, Will Milns, Brad Morgan, Tom Frood, Matt Kemp, Liam Geddes, Rory Naylor, Joe Coventry, Ma’ole Faletolu, Ben Pereira, Jacob Coghlan, Jake Ellis.
Backs:Elim Liko, Connor Newlands, Junior Vitale, Levi Emery, Isaac Milne, Ethan Yeo, Jack Royal, Pio Lupo, Josiah Lesa,Henry Wragg, Sam BakerLeota, Siosi Fafita, John Tapueluelu (captain), Brady Kingan, Harry Webby, Legin Hotham.
The winds of change have blown through the North Ground with a whole new coaching team taking the reins of the premier side.
John Hyde comes back into premier rugby having last coached at University in 2014. He has links to the AlhambraUnion club, having played for it from 198991. He will be joined by Craig Sneddon and Rodney Stringer.
Hyde was excited to be back at the club and said team spirit was good and the side had a good mix of experienced players and some players promoted from the colts grade. Plenty of players have left and new faces have appeared. Veteran Ben Pereira is named in the squad.
The team will be captained by winger John Tapueluelu and Alex Frood will be the vice captain. In the backs Legin Hotham and Levi Emery will be key men.
Little is expected to be seen of sevens players Jona Nareki and Vilimoni Koroi. AlhambraUnion had a bad run of injuries last year and need to keep players on the park to be competitive.