The Highlanders Bravehearts side is a team made up of squad players left behind after the senior squad travelled to South Africa and also includes some promising players.
The steam will take on Sydney University tomorrow at 3pm at Whitestone Contracting Stadium in Oamaru. The university side is touring the country in preparation for the Sydney club competition, the Shute Shield, which starts later this month.
The Bravehearts have had one hit-out this season, losing 40-12 to the Crusaders Knights in Christchurch on February 22.
The team has Sione Misiloi at No8 while Folau Fakatava is at halfback.
Michael Manson, who left Otago Boys’ High School only last year, starts on the right wing with big prop Saula Ma’u on the tighthead side of the front row.
Young halfback James Arscott will look to make another advance in his fledging career when he turns out for the Bravehearts.
He will start on the bench for the Bravehearts with Fakatava getting the start.
Arscott (19), who is in only his second year out of Otago Boys’ High School, has made some advances in his career.
He has been picked for the New Zealand Colts under-20 training squad, which has a camp in Palmerston North next week.
He is vying with three other halfbacks to make the national under-20 squad. He was called into the Highlanders squad for the lengthy pre-season, training with the team for up to seven weeks as Aaron Smith was resting following the World Cup.
Arscott, who played for Green Island at club level, said the pre-season was an awesome few weeks and he was still coming in a couple of days a week for training. The biggest difference from club rugby was the greater intensity and the need to be aware and switched on every day of training.
The team was well and truly flogged in the training before Christmas and this had been a real benefit for him for the coming season.
He is studying international business and Japanese at the University of Otago.
Sydney University should be a decent opponent tomorrow as it has won the Shute Shield for the past two seasons.