Seven Highlanders players made the New Zealand under-20 squad, John McGlashan College reached the First XV top four for the first time in school history, the Otago under-19 team just walloped Canterbury to win the South Island championship, the Southern Bush Pigs are New Zealand under-85kg champions, and the Otago Spirit fell short in the final but played some outstanding rugby in an otherwise unbeaten season. Hayden Meikle talks to three local coaches about the good things happening in rugby.
JOHN LESLIE
Otago U19 coach
It has been some sort of year for the Leslie family.
John, the Otago great and former Scottish international, coached Southern to an upset win in the Dunedin club final and has just guided Otago under-19 to the South Island championship.
Son and near-doppelganger Jack was a key player in that Magpies team that won the banner and, last Sunday, followed his dad into Otago colours when he made his NPC debut in Wellington, roughly a year after helping the Bush Pigs win the first of back-to-back New Zealand under-85kg titles.
Leslie senior has seen most things in rugby but can still get an absolute thrill out of seeing a bunch of young players come together and form a winning unit.
His Otago under-19s went unbeaten, and victory in the ultimate clash with Canterbury was particularly sweet.
"They are a really good bunch of lads with plenty of talent, and a really good team spirit. Just boys who came together well and played hard.
"You can have talent but it doesn’t always work."
Leslie thinks the southern rugby nursery — not all the players originated from here, of course, but the outsiders are getting some formative coaching and experiences — is looking as healthy as ever.
From his squad, loose forwards Will Stodart and Semisi Tupou Taeiloa, first five Ajay Faleafaga and wunderkind Finn Hurley have made the New Zealand under-19 team.
"I’d like to think we had another two or three who were considered for selection too," Leslie said.
"That’s a really good bunch in there. It can be hard to tell at that age but there are definitely some players in there who will go on to play rugby at a very high level.
"It’s as much about character as skill set. That really does count. It’s about the person as much as the rugby player."
KANE JURY
Highlanders talent development manager
The magnificent seven. That is how Fabian Holland, Noah Hotham, Hayden Michaels, Finn Hurley, Oliver Haig, Cameron Millar and Jake Te Hiwi will forever be remembered.
Getting seven Highlanders (six Otago, one Southland) players in the New Zealand under-20 squad was a boost to the whole rugby community in the South, and for Kane Jury, it meant a job well done.
"I think it showed the hard work that’s been going on within the region, from club level to provincial level.
"We’ve really worked hard to get everyone together to create opportunities for those guys to perform on the national stage, and they just absolutely nailed it.
"I’m really proud that we’ve developed good alignment and communication between us all to help get them there."
Jury also likes seeing southern rugby sectors working together, highlighting rising prop Rohan Wingham going from club rugby to the Highlanders under-20s to North Otago, and five-eighth Jack Leslie rising from the Bush Pigs to an Otago NPC debut.
Jury was appointed in his role three years ago as the Highlanders recognised the importance of fostering the next generation.
He is fond of the expression "laser-like", and says that is how the club approaches the two major platforms of its academy programme.
"Our biggest one is making sure all of our young rugby players want to stay within our region.
"What’s really important is that if there is an opportunity, and the right person within our region is here, we make sure that position can be filled from within our region.
"If he’s a Highlanders man, from Southland or North Otago or Otago Country or Dunedin, we must be really proactive to make sure that opportunity exists.
"And from a Highlanders point of view, we just have that laser-like focus on positions of need within our club for the next four to five years."
Talented youngsters were targeted by other Super Rugby clubs so the Highlanders had to make it clear they did not need to leave to flourish, Jury said.
There were good opportunities in rugby, tertiary education and apprenticeships in the region.
Jury is delighted the provincial unions have been running a full under-18 programme to augment first XV seasons.
That tournament culminates in finals day next weekend, after which a junior Highlanders team will play the baby Crusaders in Pleasant Point on October 4.
RUSSELL LUNDY
John McGlashan coach
What now for the McGlashan team of the century?
"I just want to see them continue to develop. We’ve got a chunk of boys going to Lincoln, some are staying in Dunedin, some are heading rural. So it will be interesting to see how they all develop.
"There are some really good prospects within our team. As they physically develop, I reckon they’ll be a real handful."
Lundy thinks the Otago Schools Rugby Championship was perfectly fine preparation to play powerful schools like Nelson College (South Island final) and Hamilton Boys’ (top four).
McGlashan had to fight hard to beat local rivals Southland Boys’, King’s and Otago Boys’, and there was not a lot between the four teams.
"I think it was a really, really strong competition this year. Any of those four teams could have given Nelson a really good crack and carried on.
"There’s some real depth in schoolboy rugby down here. Every time we played Southland, and we played them three times, the game was close and really physical. They’ve got some huge talent.
"I think there’s plenty of good boys right across the region."
The key now was keeping the young fellows involved in rugby, Lundy said.
He likes the fact McGlashan tries to keep rugby in perspective and, unlike some of the glamour schools up north, does not over-professionalise the sport.
"For us to compete at that very top level, we would have needed to take a semi-professional approach and train a whole lot more.
"But I really like the fact that we had players in our team who still played hockey or basketball. That’s great. I don’t think having a rugby academy or a semi-fulltime approach to high school rugby is really sustainable long-term."
