Moana Pasifika’s Under 21s team is set to play in an exciting two-game program starting next month.
“With the Super Rugby Under 20s tournament now defunct, we’ve had to pivot and find a short program for boys in this age group,” Moana Pathways Manager Francis Stowers said.
“So we’ve come up with a couple of games this year. We played a game back in January and now we’ve got two games coming up on March 7th against the North Harbour Academy, and March 11th against Counties Manukau Academy.”
An invitational team was selected from a group of talent in the region and they played an exhibition match against a team touring from America.
Following this, Moana Pasifika put out an expression of interest for players wanting to trial for a new Under 21s team program.
Within just a week, Moana Pasifika received 150 responses from eager players wanting to make the most of their opportunity.
That 150 was then narrowed down to 68 players who went through a trial on the weekend to decide the final team who would take part in the program.
Pathways Manager Francis Stowers says that it was great to see a mixture of players from around New Zealand and Australia put their names forward.
“Due to logistics in the past the majority of the boys have always come from the Upper North Island. But now that we’ve gone through this process, in the trail list of 68 we had four boys come over from Australia, then 20 boys from outside the Upper North Island. We also had boys from Waikato, Wellington, the South Island and Hawke’s Bay which is awesome,” Stowers said.
“It was quite a tough job for our coaches. It’s good to unearth some new talent and we’re excited for the team that’s been picked for these fixtures that are coming up. It just shows that there is talent from outside the normal structure of going through provincial teams.”
Stowers says that having this opportunity allows Moana Pasifika’s coaches to keep an eye on the emerging players that are working hard for development opportunities. As well as those vying for pre-season opportunities later in the year.
ENDS
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