NZ U19s
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@Stargazer I investigate the opponents and the timing of this tour are totally wrong. The grade 12 , u18 players weren't available. So the timing of the tour is wrong. So don't expect any good opposition.
@OomPB It's a pity, isn't it? It would have been so great if the tour had ended with a proper SA U19 v NZ U19 game, too!
The whole purpose of this tour was to prepare the NZ players for next year's WR U20 Championship, mainly because the players of this age group had missed out on playing international games for NZ Schools due to Covid, the last two years. For the NZ players, there are still good lessons to be learned from this tour, as their coach said, learning off-field aspects of touring like the long-distance travel (which will be new to most of them), dealing with jet lag, being away from home (NZ), playing at altitude etc. The coach also mentioned learning to play against teams with a different style of rugby and more physicality, but we didn't get to see much of that because the WP team simply wasn't strong enough.
Anyway, the tour will still be useful, but I think there's an opportunity missed here by not playing stronger opposition. They should have included a match against a stronger U21 team, as you mentioned before.
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I haven't watched the game yet but NZR still didn't publish a team list before the game. Amateurs.
Edit: There seems to be a new name (F. Sa) in the team list, so he must have replaced another player in the squad. Cahill the captain for this game.
Fiti Sa (Crusaders Academy)
Don't know yet who he has replaced or whether he's an extra player added to the squad.
@Stargazer Torian Barnes has injured his knee. Don’t think it’s ACL. But pretty serious
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I saw a post on Facebook saying that this game starts at 10.00am local time, so that would be 8.00pm NZT.
If true, then it's while the ABs are playing the Wallabies.
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@Stargazer I thought this might be the curtain-raiser for the SA-Arg test if it is Sat, SA time.
@Bovidae Apparently not. I've found a post saying this game will be played at Durban High School on the School's own FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/DurbanHighSchool/posts/10160316687739254
DHS player and staff selected for the Sharks U19 Invitational Team who will be playing against the New Zealand U19 Team, at DHS!!
A huge congratulations to Tholithemba Sibisi, Mr Uys and Mr Colia who have all been selected to represent the Sharks U19 Invitational Team to play against the New Zealand U19 Team!
Mr Uys has been selected as the Assistant Coach with Mr Colia being named as the Team Physiotherapist. After a stellar year, Tholithemba has been rewarded with another phenomenal selection to add to his brilliant season.
The fixture will be played on our beloved Van Heerden's field this Saturday (24th September), with kick-off being at 10:00am. School will be open to those who wish to come and watch this special fixture, one that we are honoured to be hosting. There will be no entrance fee.
Congratulations once again to all 3 of you and good luck!
#DHS #School #Horsefly #BlueTyphoon
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"Invitational Team" is usually code for weak. The Sharks U21s are playing in Bloemfontein so none of those younger players would likely be involved.
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Entertaining game but as most of the posters have noted, the opposition was so weak that it looked more like a Captain's run.
Good to see some of the skills on display though, every player from Prop to Fullback looking to or offloading. Need to see the skills tested under pressure though.
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I think this is the team to play the Sharks despite the article title.
https://www.allblacks.com/news/new-zealand-under-19-named-to-play-stormers-under-19-side/
@Bovidae Yeah, was just going to say that he list must be correct because it's different from that used for the Stormers game. They obviously had a team announcement for the first game, but forgot to publish it, and now they've forgotten to change the team's name and location. Amateurs.
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Good to see that the Sharks provided a much tougher test than WP. Hammett said these first two games were about giving everyone an opportunity, as the reserves from game 1 started and mass changes to the forward pack were made at HT. NZ dominated the scrums but didn't get any reward from the ref. The lineout functioned well in difficult windy conditions.
At least the NZ defence was tested although they won't be happy with the missed tackles leading to the Sharks tries.
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Good to see that the Sharks provided a much tougher test than WP. Hammett said these first two games were about giving everyone an opportunity, as the reserves from game 1 started and mass changes to the forward pack were made at HT. NZ dominated the scrums but didn't get any reward from the ref. The lineout functioned well in difficult windy conditions.
At least the NZ defence was tested although they won't be happy with the missed tackles leading to the Sharks tries.
How do you think we will go against the u19 boks?
My expectation is that we will be a little underpowered when we match up against them. Which has been the case in age grade match ups for a while.
Surprised that have put such big scores on these sides but of course we never know the strength or preparedness of opposition.
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How do you think we will go against the u19 boks?
My expectation is that we will be a little underpowered when we match up against them. Which has been the case in age grade match ups for a while.
Surprised that have put such big scores on these sides but of course we never know the strength or preparedness of opposition.
@DaGrubster The WP and Sharks teams were scratch teams with 3-4 days preparation, so you can't read too much into the scores.
Obviously a SA U19 team would be much stronger, particularly in the forwards, so that would be a completely different test. Hammett's comments indicate NZ wanted to play the SA U19s but that didn't happen. This tour is just to provide competitive games and a tour experience for the young players who missed out due to covid. The performance of the NZ U20s at the WC next year will tell us how beneficial this tour was.
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@DaGrubster The WP and Sharks teams were scratch teams with 3-4 days preparation, so you can't read too much into the scores.
Obviously a SA U19 team would be much stronger, particularly in the forwards, so that would be a completely different test. Hammett's comments indicate NZ wanted to play the SA U19s but that didn't happen. This tour is just to provide competitive games and a tour experience for the young players who missed out due to covid. The performance of the NZ U20s at the WC next year will tell us how beneficial this tour was.
Ah ok, didn’t realise there wasn’t a match with SA U19 during the tour.
Smart move to send U19 side in preparation for next years U20 tournament (which I assume starts up again in 2023?)
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Highlights -
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Our u20s was unbeaten in the 6 Nations Summer Series. SA Schools (u18) played against England and France u19s.
It's our schools end exams currently and the reason for these scrambling teams.
