@Mauss Interesting that you mention Rawiri. I went to the SJC-Wesley game, and his size was the first thing I noticed compared to the other locks I had seen live. I had no idea of his name at that point. There are some other tall locks around but many will need to put on plenty of bulk. Putting my Hamilton BHS cap on, hopefully Max Kara is back from his hamstring injury soon as he is one of the better midfield backs in 1st XV rugby. Outplayed Nico Stanley last year in the AGS-HBHS fixture.
@taniwharugby Yeah, history tells us that a player from a "lesser school" is more likely to make the Barbarians U18s than the NZ Schools. Given all the coaches of the NZS team are from the SI there might be less of a 1A representation. We'll see.
@taniwharugby said in School Rugby 2026:
hasnt there also been a bias of selection toward the traditional powerhouses who I guess help thier players with more exposure?
I think it’s likely bias toward the bigger schools has always played a considerable role but I feel like recent selections almost looked like the selectors were trying to overcompensate in the other direction. Picking Bede Giera in 2024 from St. Bede’s rather than Jake Frost from CBHS, or picking the Liston College flankers last year ahead of Johan Schaumkell from King’s College or Elijah Solomona from St. Pats Silverstream just seems like you’re unnecessarily overcomplicating things.
That being said, selection is obviously really difficult. I like the players in the team I picked above but I don’t really have a clue whether they would actually come together as a team. There’s a huge amount of factors you need to take into account, and I’m basing it purely on the footage I’ve watched.
I also don't think the players from the 1A being overrepresented was really the problem last year. I think the quality in general wasn't quite right, and it was coupled with a poor strategy from the coaching team. That was already obvious even before the games against Australia U18.
@WoodysRFC said in School Rugby 2026:
all South Island Boys Schools games are broadcast and available at sibsn.tv
The tighthead from SBHS, Elliot Wilson is one to watch, I'd be shocked if he's not in the NZ schools team. Others to watch are Caleb Harvey (centre) and Jack Brock (fullback).
Elliott Wilson played blindside last year, didn't he? Do you happen to know if he was always a loose forward before or just filling a role?
I find Southland Boys' players very hard to judge, personally. They play very well as a unit due to solid coaching but that can tend to hide some individual limitations. Jimmy Taylor's a good example, I think: he can be quite erratic and reckless in his play but those aspects were often masked by the sheer work rate of his teammates. But I think those facets were much more ruthlessly exposed by Australia U18.
Similarly, I wasn't really convinced by the two previous props from SBHS who made national teams in previous seasons, Thomas Jennings and Presley McHugh. Hard workers, yes, but lacking in dynamism and physicality for mine.
But I'll try to take a closer look at Wilson's game. I liked what I've seen from Harvey but he would be behind Fleming, Will Brown (CBHS), Liam Phelps (WC) and Cruz Marra (St. Peters, Cambridge) for mine. Still undecided about Brock.
@Mauss said in School Rugby 2026:
@WoodysRFC said in School Rugby 2026:
all South Island Boys Schools games are broadcast and available at sibsn.tv
The tighthead from SBHS, Elliot Wilson is one to watch, I'd be shocked if he's not in the NZ schools team. Others to watch are Caleb Harvey (centre) and Jack Brock (fullback).
Elliott Wilson played blindside last year, didn't he? Do you happen to know if he was always a loose forward before or just filling a role?
I find Southland Boys' players very hard to judge, personally. They play very well as a unit due to solid coaching but that can tend to hide some individual limitations. Jimmy Taylor's a good example, I think: he can be quite erratic and reckless in his play but those aspects were often masked by the sheer work rate of his teammates. But I think those facets were much more ruthlessly exposed by Australia U18.
Similarly, I wasn't really convinced by the two previous props from SBHS who made national teams in previous seasons, Thomas Jennings and Presley McHugh. Hard workers, yes, but lacking in dynamism and physicality for mine.
But I'll try to take a closer look at Wilson's game. I liked what I've seen from Harvey but he would be behind Fleming, Will Brown (CBHS), Liam Phelps (WC) and Cruz Marra (St. Peters, Cambridge) for mine. Still undecided about Brock.
Shifted into front row by the coaching team for this season. Always a back rower prior. Scrummaging has surprisingly been strong despite his limited play there. Wilson is less a scrum specialist and is far more dynamic than either of those two. He's a playmaker with a lot of speed and is breaking tackles and scoring tries for fun against decent opposition. Would check out more recent games against St Thomas and Christ's.
For Brock, his best games came earlier in the season against Christchurch Boys, Marlborough Boys, and Timaru. Has been injured lately. He might actually be the leading points and try scorer in the SIBS.
With that being said, the SBHS team probably have one of the most settled backlines, Charlie Byrne, Finn Hurley, and Will Garrick have all looked pretty handy too.
@Mauss said in School Rugby 2026:
I think it’s likely bias toward the bigger schools has always played a considerable role but I feel like recent selections almost looked like the selectors were trying to overcompensate in the other direction. Picking Bede Giera in 2024 from St. Bede’s rather than Jake Frost from CBHS
I had a look at the squads over those years and Frost must have already left school by 2024. Frost was the reserve lock in the 2023 NZS team, and was named in the 2024 Barbarians U18 squad as a University of Canterbury player. Interesting to note that the three locks in the current NZ U20s were all in the 2024 Barbarians U18s - Frost, Fale and Falloon (originally before being promoted to the NZS because of injury). Finn McLeod was used as a lock. I guess it shows you that selection for the NZS is no guarantee of selection in the U20s.
@Bovidae said in School Rugby 2026:
I had a look at the squads over those years and Frost must have already left school by 2024. Frost was the reserve lock in the 2023 NZS team, and was named in the 2024 Barbarians U18 squad as a University of Canterbury player.
Ah, you're absolutely right, that's a poor mistake from me. I've tried checking the 2024 teamsheets on the NZR website but you get a '404 - Page Not Found' when trying to access the squad lists:
And yeah, from what I can tell, there's about an equal number of U20 selections out of the Schools' and Barbarians' squads from 2024. I'm still strongly in favour of creating a combined U18 team, I think it would have a lot of advantages for both U18 and U20 performances.
16 days later
CNI
St John’s Hastings 0–105 St John’s Hamilton (July 11) 
Whanganui Collegiate 24–28 Matamata College (July 20)
Super 8 and CNI games resume this Saturday.
A step in the right direction. I was worried after reading the first few paragraphs that this new talent ID system only focused on 1st XV players, which would exclude the U18 club players, many of which are further along in their development and S&C.
@akan004 no worries. For future reference, see item #4:
Watched a replay of the St Pats Town v St Pats Silverstream game on Sky on Wednesday night
Not sure when this game was played but what a great game of footy
St Pats Town getting the win right at the death first time I have seen Silverstream 10 Fletcher Cooper gee this kid can play possibly the best young 10 I have seen a very long time unbelievable skill set all in the space of a few minutes nailing a drop kick off his right foot , then carving off a massive left touch finder then a perfect chip that was picked up by his midfielder there were several other brilliant touches throughout the games that marks this kid as very special
@steven-harris said in School Rugby 2026:
Watched a replay of the St Pats Town v St Pats Silverstream game on Sky on Wednesday night
Not sure when this game was played but what a great game of footy
St Pats Town getting the win right at the death first time I have seen Silverstream 10 Fletcher Cooper gee this kid can play possibly the best young 10 I have seen a very long time unbelievable skill set all in the space of a few minutes nailing a drop kick off his right foot , then carving off a massive left touch finder then a perfect chip that was picked up by his midfielder there were several other brilliant touches throughout the games that marks this kid as very special
Glad your sentiment of Cooper is the same as mine. Everyone in NZ Rugby will be wanting him to stay in our sport. Best young 10 since DMac lit it up for Christs.
On the game itself, it was played on Wednesday afternoon on one of those 'you can't beat Welly' days. Just superb running rugby from both sides. Cooper obviously kept Stream in the game, but I thought the Town forwards were really influential, notably young Raphael Mettrick.
Those two schools have 5 old boys in the current All Blacks squad, along with one more potentially being named next week in Siale Lauaki. There might be a few more in future from the two sides that played during the week, just so much talent on display.
