2019 NZ Schools
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Whoever came up with the idea to let the NZ Schools team play in red and black jerseys against the NZ Schools Barbarians in red jerseys must give himself an uppercut. These jerseys are way too similar. At least the NZ Maori U18 team played in alternate white jerseys when they played NZ Schools.
About the results. I think they were too close to draw any conclusions, esp because we don't know the team line-ups and whether they used rolling subs, or not. The difference between NZ Schools Baabaas v NZ Maori U18 was a penalty goal. In the second game, the difference was one try, but it was the 2nd game for the Maori and the first game of NZ Schools, so the Maori team may have been tiring (sooner). The difference in the 3rd game was a conversion. It's pity they didn't stream these games, but fortunately all the other NZ Schools and NZ Schools Barbarians' games will be televised.
It's a pity the NZ Maori U18 doesn't get to play another game. The Samoan Schools team is touring NSW; it would have been nice if they could have made a stopover in Auckland on the way home for a game v NZ Maori U18.
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Damn, I totally forgot about these games (although the current score may be making you want to forget them)
Match schedule (all matches live on SKY Sports)
Monday 30 September
New Zealand Barbarian Schools v Australia Under 18, 1.05pm at Hamilton Boys High School
New Zealand Schools v Fiji Schools, 3.05pm at Hamilton Boys High SchoolFriday 4 October
New Zealand Barbarian Schools v Fiji Schools, 1.05pm at St Pauls Collegiate
New Zealand Schools v Australia, 3.05pm at St Pauls CollegiateNew Zealand Schools' team:
1 Ben Lopas - Christchurch Boys’ High School
2 Ben Strang - Whanganui Collegiate
3 Tiaan Tauakipulu - Saint Kentigern College
4 Allan Craig - Saint Kentigern College
5 Zach Gallagher – captain Christ’s College
6 Anton Segner - Nelson College
7 Cam Church - Saint Kentigern College
8 Vaiolini Ekunasi - St Peter’s Cambridge
9 Max Hughes - Christchurch Boy’s High School
10 Aidan Morgan - King’s College
11 Gideon Wrampling - St Paul’s Collegiate
12 Jacob Kneepkens - Francis Douglas Memorial College
13 Meihana Grindlay - King’s College
14 Wil Gualter - Lincoln High School
15 Ruben Love - Palmerston North Boys’ High School16 Matt Dobbyn - Hamilton Boys’ High School
17 Jack Sexton - St Andrew’s College
18 Seb Calder - St Andrew’s College
19 Dom Gardiner - St Bede’s College
20 Corey Kellow - Sacred Heart College
21 Manu Paea - Rotorua Boys’ High School
22 Te Rama Reuben - Saint Kentigern College
23 Ollie Lewis - Christchurch Boys’ High School
24. Roderick Solo - Scots College
25. Blair Murray - New Plymouth Boys’ High SchoolZach Gallagher takes up the captaincy of the New Zealand Schools team, after leading the Christ's College 1st XV this season.
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New Zealand Schools' Barbarians team:
1 Joseph Gavigan - Manukura
2 George Bell - John McGlashan College
3 Hakaraia Richards-Coxhead - Hamilton Boys’ High School
4 Jamie Hannah - Christchurch Boys’ High School
5 TK Howden - Feilding High School
6 Taya Brown - Nelson College
7 Julian Goerke - Hastings Boys’ High School
8 Sosaia Moala - Auckland Grammar
9 Treyah Kingi-Taukamo - Saint Kentigern College
10 Lattrell Smiler-Ah Kiong - Hastings Boys’ High School
11 Michael Manson - Otago Boys’ High School
12 Giovanni Leituala - King’s High School
13 Alfred Nonu - Tangaroa College
14 Etonia Bainivalu - St Bede’s College
15 Tepaea Cook-Savage - St Paul’s Collegiate16 Dayton Iobu - Kings’ College
17 Brian Leali’ifano - Sacred Heart College
18 Jona Mataiciwa - Saint Kentigern College
19 Leroy Ferguson - John McGlashan College
20 Harry Press - Hutt International Boys’ School
21 James Brown - King’s College
22 Leandro Vakatini - King’s College
23 Monu Moli - Marlborough Boys’ High SchoolPlaying on his home ground, Hakaraia Richards-Coxhead will captain the New Zealand Barbarians Schools team from the front row.
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https://www.allblacks.com/news/new-zealand-schools-and-new-zealand-barbarians-schools-named/
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@Bovidae said in 2019 NZ Schools:
A windy day in Palmy - that's a surprise.
Judging by the scorelines alone, the teams were quite even, which indicates some depth throughout the country.
I've spent the last 5 days in Palmy. Windy AF, bitterly cold because of it. Fucking awful
Went to the schoolboys Bball comp today, great atmosphere, brought back some great memories!
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Here’s Christian Cullen.
https://media.giphy.com/media/YMemd4tThXLSt1kB29/giphy.gif
And here is Blair Murray, see the similarities?
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@Daffy-Jaffy said in 2019 NZ Schools:
Here’s Christian Cullen.
https://media.giphy.com/media/YMemd4tThXLSt1kB29/giphy.gif
And here is Blair Murray, see the similarities?
Wow. Same upper body swerve with no loss of speed. Great little change of pace too.
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Very windy at the games yesterday. Both NZ goal kickers struggled.
A few comments:
- The New Zealand Barbarian Schools did well in the 1st half playing into the wind but struggled to get any ball or territory for most of the 2nd half with the wind behind them. I didn't like the balance of the loose forwards as they got beaten to the breakdown too often, and were penalised a lot (often wrongly IMO). Aust schools team were bigger across the park.
- @Stargazer Manson's solo effort was great. He played really well and must have been unlucky to miss out on the NZ Schools team.
- Eventually the NZBS got back into the game and should have been rewarded with a try at the end but it was another howler from the ref.
- The NZS team played well in patches but were guilty of becoming too loose. Based on the respective scorelines vs Fiji I expect the game on Friday to be close. Some of the reserves against Fiji like Murray should start.
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On Blair Murray, when he came on the field I was explaining to my mates how quick and elusive he was, describing him as a mixture of Cullen and DMac. Not long afterwards he scored that try. He did the same thing last year for the Chiefs U18s vs the Crusaders U18s, and was NZ's player of the match in the 2018 schools test.
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They handed out match programmes which listed the squads, coaching staff/team management and the previous results of the NZ Schools and NZ Barbarian Schools teams. Also listed was the annual Bronze Boot awards for the "most constructive player in a test series" for NZ and Australia. I thought this might be of interest to some of you as there are a lot of well-known names listed, but also some names that aren't familiar to me at all.
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@Bovidae Thanks for that! Great list to be on for a player. Quite a few made the ABs! I can see Devan Flanders make the ABs at some point, provided he gets the opportunities in Super Rugby that he needs to develop at a higher level. Blair Murray impressed last year, and from I saw, also this year?