Twenty two Wellington players have been included in the 57-strong contingent for next week’s annual Hurricanes U18 Development Camp in Feilding.
In the current Hurricanes squad, over 20 players have come through the Hurricanes Under 18 Development programme. This system continues to play a big role in the progress of our region’s younger players and expose them to the Hurricanes and professional rugby environment.
Hurricanes head coach Mark Hammett said, “This is a fantastic opportunity for these younger guys to experience the on and off the field work required as a professional rugby player and learn from the best in our region."
The five day camp begins in Feilding on Monday 2 July. A camp trial match will be played on the Thursday. The Hurricanes U18 team is then selected for the following week’s top four tournament involving the Hurricanes, Chiefs, Blues and South Island combined U18 sides who play for the Barbarian Shield. This in turn has a heavy weighting on the selection of the New Zealand Secondary Schools side for later in the year.
The Wellington players selected are (with their school in brackets):
Fereti Soloa (Naenae College)
Jackson Garden-Bachop (Scots College)
Sam Dawson (Scots College)
Leni Apisai (Aotea College)
Henry Stowers (Scots College)
Etimani Sului (Wellington College)
Nelson Asofa-Solomona (Wellington College)
Vincent Sakaria (Wellington College)
Ezekiel Sopoaga (Wellington College)
Luke Taualupe (Wellington College)
Wesley Goosen (Wellington College
Luke Campbell (Wellington College)
John Tufele (St Bernard’s College)
Leni Apisai (Aotea College)
Andrew Mamea (St Bernard’s College, Wellington)
Anthony Mamea (St Bernard’s College)
Tauasosi Taimavave (St Patrick’s College, Wellington)
Falelima Siinei (Wainuiomata High School/Wainuiomata Rugby Club)
Jordon Mellars (Tawa College)
Selected but unavailable to attend:
James Blackwell (Wellington College)
James O'Reilly (Hutt International Boys' School)
Nopera Hauwaho (Hutt International Boys School)