Less important than that
Farah Palmer Cup: Round 2; Mitre 10 Cup: Round 1
Welcome to this week’s edition of The Tip-On!
If you want to hear Du’Plessis Kirifi’s heartening words after Wellington’s loss to Waikato in their first Mitre 10 Cup game of the season — at a time when perspective in the sporting world has never been more important — you can find a clip of his post-match interview here.
All in-game data per ESPNScrum unless otherwise stated.
Farm system
With no World Rugby U20 Championship taking place in 2020, the Mitre 10 Cup is the only chance this year for rugby fans around the world to get a glimpse of the age-grade talent in New Zealand which has not yet reached Super Rugby level.
Chiefs lock Tupou Vaa’i — already an All Black — and loose forward Simon Parker were the only 2 players born in 2000 or later to make appearances for Kiwi franchises this season. However, 20 other players who would have been vying for a place in this year’s Baby Blacks squad joined them in turning out for their provinces in Week 1 of the 2020 NPC:
North Harbour vs. Canterbury
In the round’s opening fixture in Albany, Canterbury were able to deploy an extremely experienced pack after all internationals were made available for selection by the All Blacks coaches. But alongside Joe Moody, Codie Taylor, Luke Romano and Sam Whitelock — 463 Super Rugby appearances and 244 tests between them — in the red-and-black front 5 was Fletcher Newell, a tighthead prop who stood out in age-grade rugby as a 19-year-old last year.
Newell held his own at set piece and was solid around the park, although understandably he wasn’t as dominant in the contact area as at U20 level. He was replaced in the second half by Tamaiti Williams — who, like Newell, would have been returning for a second year in the Baby Blacks in 2020 — and the St Kentigern College product had no such issues: at 194cm and 140kg per the official tournament media guide, he appears more physically ready for adult rugby than his 183cm, 119kg teammate.
Loosehead Finlay Brewis also came off the bench for Canterbury; elsewhere in the forwards, Sam Darry — contracted to the Blues for 2021 — should appear regularly in the second row despite not making the 23 in Week 1. In the backs, Isaiah Punivai got more minutes as a substitute against North Harbour than he would have expected after an injury to Dallas McLeod, and showed good defensive instincts to nab an interception which he ran back for a try.
Also outside the province’s matchday squad for this round, scrum-half Luke Donaldson could stand to benefit if Mitchell Drummond gets added to the All Blacks extended group for the Rugby Championship in Australia, while outside back Chay Fihaki — who is U20-eligible again in 2021 — will be competing to take the spot vacated by George Bridge once he goes on international duty.
On the home side at North Harbour Stadium last Friday was substitute tighthead Jimmy Roots, the province’s only representative at March’s pre-pandemic New Zealand U20 camp in Palmerston North; first five Kade Banks is the other U20-eligible player named in Kieran Keane’s NPC squad.
Waikato vs. Wellington
A number of players who attended that Baby Blacks camp got opportunities to run out alongside a swathe of All Blacks in Hamilton on Saturday: Parker was on the Waikato bench with fly-half Rivez Reihana, scrum-half Cortez Ratima and midfielder Gideon Wrampling, while hooker Tyrone Thompson, lock Taine Plumtree and fly-half Aidan Morgan — like Ratima and Wrampling, U20-eligible next year too — were second-half substitutes for Wellington. Plumtree (son of John) is particularly highly rated after going to last year’s World Rugby U20 Championship a year young; he made some effective contributions at the attacking breakdown (and in the air) in his 13-minute appearance.
(Blindside Caleb Delany — who spent some time training with the Hurricanes in 2020 — is also in the Wellington squad as a 20-year-old, and Morgan’s 2019 New Zealand Secondary Schools teammate Ruben Love — who is comfortable across the backline — also made the cut. Physical winger Valynce Te Whare is the only other U20 player in Waikato’s squad, having made a few appearances in last year’s NPC.)
Otago vs. Auckland
Replacement scrum-half James Arscott was the only U20-eligible player on display in Dunedin at the weekend, but midfielder Giovanni Leituala, back row Sean Withy —both born in 2001 — and fly-half/fullback Harrison Boyle are also in Otago’s playing group for the tournament. (Tighthead prop Saula Mau is out injured for the remainder of the season.)
Like Canterbury, Otago’s opponents were able to call upon a number of All Blacks for their Week 1 win at Forsyth Barr Stadium. While this led to none of their U20 players featuring, fans of age-grade rugby should keep an eye on the rest of Auckland’s games for possible glimpses of hooker Soane Vikena (2001), back row Niko Jones, scrum-half Taufa Funaki, fly-half Zarn Sullivan and outside back Joel Cobb.
Counties Manukau vs. Tasman
Mahonri Ngakuru was the only U20 player who appeared in this game; the second row moved to Nelson for the NPC despite playing club rugby for Burnside in Canterbury. Former Christchurch BHS scrum-half Louie Chapman has also switched provinces to represent the Mako, but German-born flanker Anton Segner (2001) is a Nelson College product; he is not yet eligible for New Zealand, but is being closely monitored by New Zealand Rugby’s high-performance unit.
On the Steelers side, both players from March’s Baby Blacks camp — hooker Ioane Moananu (2001) and scrum-half Cam Roigard — are named in Tai Lavea’s squad, but neither featured on Saturday.
Northland vs. Manawatū
While Northland’s only U20-eligible player, Rob Rush, wasn’t involved on Sunday, Manawatū rolled out a matchday squad that included 5 of their 7 age-grade prospects: Josiah Maraku started at centre, with TK Howden (2001), Tyler Laubscher, Stewart Cruden and Drew Wild coming off the bench. (Also in the squad are last year’s NZSS hooker Ben Strang and his colleague in the province’s academy, scrum-half Bryn Wilson.)
Laubscher, a loose forward who moved to New Zealand from his native South Africa in 2009, is possibly the most interesting player of the lot. He took over at 8 from Brayden Iose — who moved to openside — when he came on for the Turbos after 50 minutes, and looks to have good body control in contact; carrying on the right edge late in Sunday’s game, he used sharp footwork to find a weak shoulder and extended well through the tackle to release an accurate offload.
The former Palmerston North BHS pupil was involved with the Hurricanes during 2018-19 preseason, and should return to Wellington prior to the 2021 edition of Super Rugby. (The Wellington franchise have been proactive in developing their young back-rowers in recent years, with both Iose and Devan Flanders benefiting from training with the team for substantial periods.)
Taranaki vs. Bay of Plenty
All eyes were on Vaa’i going into this game in Inglewood after his swift rise to international rugby, and he duly impressed for Taranaki; his 2 tries showcased his instincts in broken play and ability to pick a line, and he popped up a number of other times with nice attacking touches.
Nonetheless, his colleague in the second row shouldn’t be overlooked: Josh Lord, in his second year of NPC rugby, looked to be calling the Bulls lineout, and was instrumental in directing the close-range maul that led to a penalty try and a yellow card for Aaron Carroll. The most striking part of his game, however, was his mobility in defence — he was left in open space in the Taranaki defensive line a number of times throughout the 80 minutes, but moved well laterally and completed effective tackles.
Vaa’i and Lord were accompanied in the starting lineup by All Blacks Sevens flyer Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens (2001), who broke down the right in the second half and flipped a one-handed offload back infield to Jordie Barrett for the team’s final try. His Tukapa teammate Lukas Halls is also in the Bulls squad and could get some gametime in the midfield or on the wing, while front-rowers Mills Sanerivi and Crusader Faletagoai are also U20-eligible.
Despite a creditable performance at last year’s Jock Hobbs U19s, there are no U20 players in Bay of Plenty’s squad; however, a number of players from that age-grade team will be involved in a revamped Bay of Plenty Toa campaign over the next couple of months.
Southland vs. Hawke’s Bay
Like the Steamers, Hawke’s Bay don’t have anyone in their squad who is U20-eligible this year. Southland have 2 such players — Arese Poliko and Niko Manaena — but neither took part in their 16-10 win in Invercargill on Sunday.
Prize cattle
Ian Foster and his colleagues in the All Blacks coaching team have driven home the need for physicality up front since their appointment at the end of last year; the weekend before last at their 2020 squad announcement, forwards coach John Plumtree explicitly referenced the team’s need for players “who can create momentum through brutality”.
Given those requirements, they will be pleased to see that 12 of the 22 U20-eligible players who played NPC rugby in Week 1 were forwards. Tamaiti Williams’ physical presence has already been noted, but the size of all of these players — and the other forwards in wider provincial squads who did not play — is a major plus when considered in combination with their technical skills:
As Paul Cully reported yesterday, NZR’s Head of High Performance Mike Anthony felt that this year’s U20 forward pack “was going to be exceptionally strong” — Lord, Darry, Williams and Newell were all referenced by name in the piece as “a further quartet of strong prospects” to go with Vaa’i. (Cully noted in a separate tweet that NZR are planning to bulk up Vaa’i further so that he becomes an “enforcer-style lock” — presumably to complement the “genuine height” offered by the likes of Lord and Darry.)
Looking even further out, there are a number of other promising locks even earlier in the talent-development pathway; in the back row, Anthony will undoubtedly be keen for Segner to complete his qualification period — Ben Smith of RugbyPass recently described him as “a monstrous openside with the body of a No. 8”.
Athletic potential?
The XV — “a new home for premium rugby content” — was launched yesterday on social media by its editors Owain Jones (formerly of Rugby World) and Gregor Paul (currently of the NZ Herald).
The subscription-funded website is owned and operated by Rugby Pass Limited — operator of RugbyPass.com, a streaming platform that publishes some excellent journalism and analysis amidst a morass of inflammatory, questionable social media activity.
Rugby Pass Limited is itself a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sky Network Television Limited (listed on the New Zealand Exchange, with a minority stake held by NZR) after an acquisition last year; at the time, Sky chief executive Martin Stewart commented that the transaction would help the company deliver more “high quality and engaging rugby content”.
The irony of Sky positioning The XV as apart from “a sensationalist, clickbait-driven agenda” with one hand while obscuring its links to a platform with such an agenda with the other — there is no mention of RugbyPass on the site’s ‘About us’ page — shouldn’t be lost on readers, but the content certainly looks like it will be of top quality. As well as regular RugbyPass contributors like Ben Smith and Jamie Lyall, LockerRoom writer Ashley Stanley and Australian journalist Ben Kimber are a couple of other notable names who have been added to the roster.
In addition to diversifying the range of consumer tastes to which Sky can appeal, this venture will also continue the work done by RugbyPass in expanding the company’s horizons beyond New Zealand. Of the first 18 pieces published on the site, only 2 were Kiwi rugby stories: Gregor Paul on Rieko Ioane, and Justin Marshall on Aaron Smith.
For a website looking to sustain itself financially on subscriptions at a cost (£24.99 p.a. or £3.99 p.m.) that is relatively low compared to other prestige sports media outlets, access to more populous markets — particularly in the UK, where “rugby-watching houses are higher net worth families” — will be crucial if it is to be successful.
Highlight reels
Sky Sport’s coverage of the Farah Palmer Cup has already gained plaudits from rugby fans this season: 3 games were broadcast live in New Zealand last weekend, following on from the game between Counties Manukau and North Harbour in Pukekohe in Round 1.
What’s more, every game so far which has not been broadcast live on television has been streamed live by the home province either on YouTube or Facebook — those 5 fixtures have attracted a cumulative audience of over 68,000 at time of writing. (The ORFU’s production — complete with pre-match build-up and interviews with coaches — for the Spirit’s game against Hawke’s Bay was particularly excellent.)
Numbers for match highlights on the All Blacks YouTube channel have also been robust: the 4 Sky Sport games have had more than 55,000 total views at time of writing, with the Round 1 composite highlights package — also broadcast on Sky — hitting over 10,000 too.
Pass of the week
Northland’s Krystal Murray made headlines during last year’s Farah Palmer Cup for her diverse range of skills, and she’s already back at it in 2020.
While she’s moved from the back row to the front this season, Murray has lost none of her explosiveness in the loose. In the first half in Whangarei last weekend, the capped Kiwi Fern (who played in the last Rugby League World Cup back in 2017) got on the ball at first receiver inside the Auckland Storm 22m line and created a try almost from nothing.
After taking a pass from Tyla Nathan-Wong — moved to scrum-half by Cheryl Smith for Round 2 — to the left of the ruck, Murray sizes up her options. Dummying a tip-on pass to Aroha Savage on her outside shoulder, she explodes off her left foot between the pair of Auckland defenders opposite — with superb control, she keeps her feet in the double tackle and releases an offload to Savage, who has continued her run in support, at the latest possible moment:
The loose forward has one defender to beat in the backfield, and makes no mistake — but this try was all Murray.
Loose threads
In case you missed it on Twitter this week
Waikato outside backs Stacey Fluhler and Renee Holmes turning it on against Taranaki
Otago centre Kilisitina Moata’ane showing off her power game
A look at a couple of impressive moments from Tamaiti Williams’ stint off the bench for Canterbury last Friday
A quick examination of a variation on a common scrum-attack shape from the Waikato men’s team against Wellington
An interesting strategy used by the Otago men’s team on attack from a lineout in the opposition half
Another example of one of Will Jordan’s most dangerous traits on the ball
Quick hits
While Southland are the only province competing in the Mitre 10 Cup who have been unable to field a Farah Palmer Cup side this year, there are promising signs for women’s rugby in the region. The women’s development officer for Rugby Southland, Georgia Mason, predicted in an interview with Stuff.co.nz that the province will have a team in the FPC “within three years” on the back of positive development of the game at school and club level. That development work appears to be bearing fruit already: Madison Grieve of James Hargest College in Invercargill was among the 6 girls selected to attend the Highlanders’ U18 development camp for 2020 earlier this week, alongside 6 boys from Southland BHS and another from Gore HS.
NZR chief executive Mark Robinson’s confirmation yesterday that the Black Ferns would play no test rugby this year was incredibly frustrating. To partially compensate, he did reveal that they are planning to get their elite women’s players some rugby on home soil after the end of the domestic season — and NZR followed up by announcing a November schedule for the team earlier today, including the exciting prospect of an intrasquad Probables versus Possibles match.
Craig Philpott will not be around to coach next year’s Baby Blacks team, with Stuff reporting that his contract with New Zealand Rugby has not been renewed. Having Super Rugby coaches — some of whom are already employed directly by NZR — lead the U20 programme may be an attractive option, given the union’s likely financial constraints in 2021 and beyond.
No one needs to be told to read Jonathan Liew write about sport for The Guardian, but this piece on how certain sports lose their integrity in condensed form — and the very concept of consuming sport as a series of highlights packages, rather than events in their entirety — is excellent.
Finally, be sure to read these bits of analysis of the Queensland Reds ahead of Saturday’s Super Rugby AU final, in which they will take on the Brumbies: Graeme Forbes (of The Dead Ball Area) on their attack for Green and Gold Rugby, and Nick Bishop on their defence for The Roar.