NZ Schools Rugby 2025
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@hikastags said in NZ Schools Rugby 2025:
Is Siale Pahulu signed to the Warriors?
Did you read that somewhere? It would be strange to make him one of the co-captains if he was committed to RL.
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I watched the game between the Australian U18s and Australia Schoolboys. It wasn’t a particularly close game, as you can tell by the scoreline.
Remarkably, the Australia U18s blew multiple gilt-edges chances so the scoreline could’ve easily been even more ugly. Then again, it’s hard to take much from this game because the talent disparity was quite substantial. Australian Schoolboys had a decent scrum and some talented players (the tighthead Daly, the lock Finegan and the number 8 Rylands) but you can’t say they were a good side.
The Australia U18s almost completely changed their side at halftime, so most players got good minutes to show the coaches what they got. In the first half, the standouts for the U18s, in my view, were Treyvon Pritchard, the 12, who kicks, passes and runs well. And Ed Kasprowicz, the 2m-ish lock, who looks like a handful at lineout time.
During the second half, Angus Grover, the halfback, continues to look like the real deal. I’d expect him to start against NZ Schools and his contest with Marco Miln should be a good one. Dylan Simmons, the loose forward, was also very impressive, showing both physicality through the middle and genuine pace out wide. Risati, the young, much-hyped playmaker, also had some slicing runs through the Aussie Schoolboys’ defence. The Australia U18s have pace pretty much throughout their entire team.
As far as the upcoming series with NZS is concerned, I’d have the Australian U18s as comfortable favourites. I don’t think there’s necessarily a talent gap but the Australian U18s look much clearer on their individual roles in defence and attack, whereas the NZ Schools’ players often looked disconnected when shooting up in defence and unsure when attacking through their backline.
I’m also not sure the NZS defence has the right priorities for playing the Australian U18s: their focus seems to be on bringing line speed but the Australia U18s won’t mind keeping the ball close around the ruck in response. The latter have an abundance of big carriers and clever game managers, so the first job for their opposition should be to deny them quick ball at the ruck. NZ Schools, unfortunately, seemed barely interested in contesting the breakdown against the NZ Barbarian U18s, which doesn’t bode particularly well.
That said, there’s obviously talent in the NZ Schools’ team so hopefully they’ve been able to use these past two weeks to get some cohesion into the side. Should be an interesting series.
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I'm not expecting NZS to win either based on what I watched live. Generally, all the NZ teams conceded far too many points which wasn't just down to better attack. When the NZS team last toured Aust they had difference makers like Mathis but I don't see any of those in the 2025 version.
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@Bovidae said in NZ Schools Rugby 2025:
All Blacks YouTube.
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Defence clearly optional for both teams here.
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@KiwiMurph said in NZ Schools Rugby 2025:
Wasn't there a story where NZ tried to move to NZ U18s model as opposed to NZ Schools and got push back?
Wonder if it might get more steam after this?
I was just thinking the same. What would a combined Schools plus Barbarians side + Mika look like? 40 points better?
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I've just watched this game now. That 2nd half defence was embarrassing. Tito and co are out of their depth as coaches.
There needs to be some changes for game 2, but I doubt the result will be any different. I'd like to see Viljoen start at 1st 5 as Taylor was disappointing. Change the midfield too, especially Su'a.
Big influx of schoolboy rugby union players
