New Zealand talent: Ones to Watch

The celebrations over winning the Rugby World Cup have barely begun to subside in New Zealand and already Kiwi eyes are turning towards defending their crown in 2019.

The five New Zealand Super Rugby franchises named their preliminary squads for the 2016 season recently and despite a large exodus of veterans to the northern hemisphere, the player pool in New Zealand looks as talented as it has ever been.

The northern hemisphere may have thought they were getting one over on New Zealand by signing up the likes of Dan Carter, Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith, but in fact, all they’ve done is fast-track the All Blacks’ development in the race towards RWC 2019 in Japan.

We’ve highlighted some of the young talent that has been drafted into these squads and look at their potential prospects in 2016 and beyond.

Blues

No prospective Super Rugby debutant has received as much attention or hype as Rieko Ioane. The centre made a try-scoring debut for the New Zealand Sevens side as a 17-year-old and backed up an impressive HSBC Sevens World Series with a strong showing for Auckland in the ITM Cup.

Rieko joins his older brother Akira, with whom he also played for the Maori All Blacks earlier this year, at the Blues and both players look set to be cornerstones of Tana Umaga’s new-look side. With Pita Ahki, Francis Saili, Frank Halai and Charles Piutau all having left Auckland, there will undoubtedly be opportunities for Rieko to show he has what it takes to succeed at the next level.

Two other players keen to catch Umaga’s eye in preseason will be scrum-half Sam Nock and wing Tevita Li.

You would have had to have been living under a rock for the last 18 months to not know who Li is, but with the number of backs departing Auckland, particularly in the back three, Li should have an opportunity in 2016 to make a wing berth his own and form-permitting, push for higher honours.

Nock, who is just 19, has a chance to see playing time with Jimmy Cowan and Jamie Gibson-Park moving on and will compete with Bryn Hall and Billy Guyton. The Northland scrum-half is regarded as one of the best prospects at his position in the country and could follow in Akira Ioane’s footsteps and back up a Super Rugby debut season with a trip to the World Rugby U20 Championship.

Chiefs

Winning back-to-back Rugby World Cups suggests the All Blacks are a team without too many weaknesses, but if there is one glaring chink in their armour, it’s their scrummaging. New Chiefs tighthead prop Atunaisa Moli could be a player that goes a long way to eventually mending that chink and giving the New Zealand backs an even more solid foundation to work their magic from.

The 20-year-old captained the victorious Baby Blacks side at this year’s World Rugby U20 Championship and was part of a set-piece which looked worlds apart from the units which New Zealand had struggled with at recent tournaments. His work rate and ability in the loose, in addition to his strong scrummaging foundation, make him the perfect signing for the Chiefs.

Moli will be joined at the Chiefs by fellow U20 Championship-winning forward Mitchell Karpik. The openside has plenty of potential and will be hoping to establish himself alongside Sam Cane, rather than as his deputy. With many teams at all levels of rugby moving toward fielding two traditional opensides in their back rows, Karpik could make himself a nice complement to Cane and Michael Leitch among the Chiefs’ loose forwards.

In the back line, Chase Tiatia will be worth watching as the former Samoa age-grade star looks to back-up a strong ITM Cup campaign with Bay of Plenty and fill the void left by Bryce Heem and Hosea Gear out wide.

Crusaders

Carter’s move to France may have drawn the most attention, but equally damaging to the Crusaders are the losses of Colin Slade and Tom Taylor, also to the Top 14. The Christcurch-based franchise will have three new faces at fly-half this season and though it will likely be Ben Volavola competing with Marty McKenzie for the starter’s jersey on day one, don’t rule out Richie Mo’unga as the season progresses.

The 21-year-old fly-half already has more ITM Cup experience under his belt than most players his age and looks very balanced, capable of opening up games when required and tactically astute enough not to overplay his hand. He may not be the next Carter, but he could be the next Slade, and that is quite the complement.

Sean Wainui and Mitchell Hunt are two exciting young backs set to be involved with the Crusaders in 2016. Israel Dagg may well limit Hunt’s playing time early on, but keep an eye on Wainui, who could cement himself alongside Ryan Crotty in the Crusaders’ midfield if he can impress in preseason.

He may not be a Super Rugby debutant, but 2016 could be a big season for Scott Barrett, as the lock looks to build on a solid 2015 campaign and begin to catch up with his more prestigious brother, Beauden Barrett.

Highlanders

The defending champions are in the fairly luxurious position of having not had to find too many replacements for departing players. Just as the All Blacks ignored many of the Highlanders squad, so did many of Europe’s biggest clubs, with Edinburgh’s Nasi Manu and John Hardie the two most prominent departures.

Don’t expect to see Patelesio Tomkinson turning out every week for the Highlanders (he’s in the wider training group), but the 19-year-old centre is one of the hottest prospects in New Zealand rugby. He made his ITM Cup debut for Otago this year and certainly looks capable of being fast-tracked into Super Rugby. If he can establish himself as a solid complement to Lima Sopoaga and Malakai Fekitoa over the next couple of seasons, then the Highlanders will continue to be one of the most exciting teams to watch in the competition.

Tomkinson is joined in the wider training group by Jackson Hemopo, another player who will be key to the Highlanders’ future and their bid for sustained success. The lock will bring an infusion of youthful energy into a veteran second row group.

One of the more noticeable squad moves has been the promotion Josh Renton to the Super Rugby squad, with Fumiaki Tanaka dropping out to the wider training group. This shouldn’t be taken as a slight on Tanaka at all, more a comment on the progression of Renton. The 21-year-old scrum-half was one of New Zealand’s standout players in the 2014 Junior World Championship and it will be interesting to see how much he can gleam from Aaron Smith, working with the All Black day in and day out at training.

Hurricanes

New Zealand’s promising scrum-half stocks are overflowing, as Hurricanes’ Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi joins the aforementioned Renton and Nock on the All Blacks’ radar. Tahuriorangi was a member of New Zealand U20 Championship-winning side this year and though he didn’t receive the widespread praise that Akira Ioane enjoyed, he was every bit as effective.

Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd has brought in Jamie Gibson-Park at scrum-half to compete with TJ Perenara, but Tahuriorangi has the ability to beat out Gibson-Park and make himself Perenara’s understudy next year. The 20-year-old has game management skills which are rare in such a young half-back and exhibited them during a solid campaign with Taranaki in the ITM Cup.

New Zealand’s fly-half factory continues to churn out talent, with Wellington’s TJ Va’a joining Barrett and Otere Black at the Hurricanes. Va’a is unlikely to see the field in 2016, barring injury, but is another exceptional talent at the position and one that may have a faster track to success at a franchise with less talent at his position. Regardless, a season spent training alongside Barrett will only help Va’a’s development.

Lock Geoffrey Cridge will be an intriguing candidate to replace Jeremy Thrush in the Hurrcane’s engine room, while Loni Uhila, also known as ‘The Tongan Bear’, is a raw but destructive physical force at the scrum and has plenty of boom or bust potential.