School Rugby 2025
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Expect a Māori, Barbarians, Cavaliers, and PI teams amongst others. Aust have named their squad and it is strong with some of their U18 stars and sevens players.
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The draw has been released, so you can see all of the teams that will be participating.
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Good article from the Southland Tribune about its three outside region academy recruits.
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I see that Otago has signed Alex Arnold. Disappointing he has left Waikato but he has a big future as a 6. I wouldn't be surprised if he is in the NZ U20s in 2026 or 2027.
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@Bovidae said in School Rugby 2025:
I see that Otago has signed Alex Arnold. Disappointing he has left Waikato but he has a big future as a 6. I wouldn't be surprised if he is in the NZ U20s in 2026 or 2027.
What is he like as a six? Another 195cm hybrid. Or a more agile explosive player? Seems we have a bit of an obsession with our big workhorse blindside/lock options.
Looking at the academy there have been a few other good gets from around the country.
Peni Havea looks a good pick up out of Feilding too.
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@SouthernMann said in School Rugby 2025:
@Bovidae said in School Rugby 2025:
I see that Otago has signed Alex Arnold. Disappointing he has left Waikato but he has a big future as a 6. I wouldn't be surprised if he is in the NZ U20s in 2026 or 2027.
What is he like as a six? Another 195cm hybrid.
That's probably what I would describe Arnold as at this stage. He is a high-workrate player who is very mobile, and has also played lock so a good lineout forward. He captained Hamilton BHS and the Māori U18s so you can find those games on youtube.
Oliver Church is another lock/loose forward from Wellington College.
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@Bovidae said in School Rugby 2025:
@SouthernMann said in School Rugby 2025:
@Bovidae said in School Rugby 2025:
I see that Otago has signed Alex Arnold. Disappointing he has left Waikato but he has a big future as a 6. I wouldn't be surprised if he is in the NZ U20s in 2026 or 2027.
What is he like as a six? Another 195cm hybrid.
That's probably what I would describe Arnold as at this stage. He is a high-workrate player who is very mobile, and has also played lock so a good lineout forward. He captained Hamilton BHS and the Māori U18s so you can find those games on youtube.
Oliver Church is another lock/loose forward from Wellington College.
We tend to hoover those sorts of players up.
Looking at the Otago/Southland production/rexruitment line there seems to be an ongoing gap at centre, wing (although looks good for the Highlanders) and no8. Most of the other positions look well catered for. That's why I'm hopeful for Brock Reid down in Southland. He will one I'll key an eye on.
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@SouthernMann id say he's got a bit of growth still in him too, up and bulk.
Smart kid with good work rate, I saw something recently on nru page how they are keeping in touch with him and several others off to uni.
Bit surprised Jack Saunders hasn't shown up in the Otago age group sides, talented 9 who was at WBHS lastbyear and was in Blues training squad.
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@taniwharugby said in School Rugby 2025:
@SouthernMann id say he's got a bit of growth still in him too, up and bulk.
Smart kid with good work rate, I saw something recently on nru page how they are keeping in touch with him and several others off to uni.
Bit surprised Jack Saunders hasn't shown up in the Otago age group sides, talented 9 who was at WBHS lastbyear and was in Blues training squad.
Looks like he made the wider Otago U19 side. Then either didn't make the cut or was injured. Will be hard for any halfback not named Dylan Pledger down there over the next few years. On the other hand there should be a big gap at NPC level for someone to grab. I doubt we will see a lot of Pledger wearing the golden O.
With Reid, hope he enjoys his time down south and develops as a footy player. Seems a lot of people rate him. If he progresses that'd be great. Would be aweome to have another Casey on our hands. Albeit a different type of player.
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@hikastags said in School Rugby 2025:
Very odd Henare Parangi didn't make it.
He has been named in the Māori team.
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Games on Field 1 are live on Sky. NZ girls play Aust first up at 9:03 am and the boys play at 11:20 am.
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NZ does the double at the Global Youth Sevens.
The NZ U18s Girls were lucky as they came from 19-0 down at HT to beat Japan in the SF. The NZ Cavalier Girls (full of Manukura players according to Laban) upset Aust U18 in the QF. They lost the final in the 1st half.
The NZ U18 Boys dominated the final after losing to Aust U18s on Day 1. No Treyvon Pritchard in the final due to concussion, which was a huge loss for Aust.
2025 Global Youth Sevens Girls Tournament Team
1 Levonah MOTULIKI (NZ U18)
2 Asha TAUMOEPEAU-WILLIAMS (NZ U18)
3 Ngawaimarino SIMPKINS (NZ Cavaliers)
4 Hiyori KAWACHI (Japan)
5 Maya TEBBUTT (Rugby Vault)
6 Keighley-Rein ARAIA (NZ Cavaliers )
7 Marley LARKIN (USA)MVP FINAL: Te Arani VULU (NZ U18)
PLAYER OF TOURNAMENT: Asha TAUMOEPEAU-WILLIAMS (NZ U18)2025 Global Youth Sevens Boys Tournament Team
1 Treyvon PRITCHARD (Australia U18)
2 Max PRYKIEL (Australia U18)
3 Jake HUTCHINGS (NZ U18)
4 Brayden NEILSON (NZ U18)
5 Johan SCHAUMKELL (NZ Cavaliers)
6 Te Ariki ROGERS (Aotearoa Māori )
7 Matt FLEMING (NZ U18)MVP FINAL: Matt FLEMING (NZ U18)
PLAYER OF TOURNAMENT: Treyvon PRITCHARD (Australia U18) -
I watched the boys’ final. The contrast with the 2024 encounter, between NZ and Australia U18, was quite stark, I felt. It was almost a reverse of last year’s match-up: now, it were the NZ U18 Boys who looked very well-prepared for their opponents, kicking in behind towards the space multiple times (Erasmus and Jones) and putting pressure on the opposition breakdown (Tuituba, Raviyawa, and Solomona all had breakdown steals).
https://giphy.com/gifs/b8p4PdMs9DFCGPuTwe
https://giphy.com/gifs/Q7mSVWpYFY0iQoPJl4
Using the outside of the boot while moving the kicking leg away from opposition contact: both Erasmus and Jones used similar techniques to put in effective kicksLast year, I also remarked that the Australian U18s keep unearthing these tall, rangy athletes like Declan Minto and Cooper Watters who are remarkably effective at this level. This year, NZ U18s followed suit with what must’ve been the tallest squad they’ve assembled, with all of Hutchings, Neilson, Raviyawa, Fleming and Erasmus being close to 1m90 or taller.
They showed their value throughout these games, being able to break through tackles (Turinui noted Fleming’s hip strength as a key to this) as well as offload in contact.
https://giphy.com/gifs/TMYLOG36Or2nzklUMU
https://giphy.com/gifs/HKNz74vthsp4yoNEqw
Both Fleming and Raviyawa used their hip strength and length to stay alive and offload after contact, both offloads leading to triesAfter last year’s relatively poor showing at the Global Youth 7s as well as the drubbings received by the NZ Schools team at the hands of the AU U18s this year, it was good to see some more astute selection and coaching decisions by NZ Rugby.
