School Rugby 2025

[Bovidae]

@hikastags said in School Rugby 2025:

Very odd Henare Parangi didn't make it.

He has been named in the Māori team.

[Bovidae]

The Cavaliers are always one of the better teams. Stanley Solomon made the tournament team playing for them a few years back.

[Bovidae]

Another team which has players from the NZ Schools, Barbarians and Māori U18s. Some qualified assistant coaches too.

[Bovidae]

Games on Field 1 are live on Sky. NZ girls play Aust first up at 9:03 am and the boys play at 11:20 am.

https://www.globalyouthsevens.rugby/fixtures-results-2025/

[Bovidae]

NZ does the double at the Global Youth Sevens.

The NZ U18s Girls were lucky as they came from 19-0 down at HT to beat Japan in the SF. The NZ Cavalier Girls (full of Manukura players according to Laban) upset Aust U18 in the QF. They lost the final in the 1st half.

The NZ U18 Boys dominated the final after losing to Aust U18s on Day 1. No Treyvon Pritchard in the final due to concussion, which was a huge loss for Aust.

2025 Global Youth Sevens Girls Tournament Team
1 Levonah MOTULIKI (NZ U18)
2 Asha TAUMOEPEAU-WILLIAMS (NZ U18)
3 Ngawaimarino SIMPKINS (NZ Cavaliers)
4 Hiyori KAWACHI (Japan)
5 Maya TEBBUTT (Rugby Vault)
6 Keighley-Rein ARAIA (NZ Cavaliers )
7 Marley LARKIN (USA)

MVP FINAL: Te Arani VULU (NZ U18)
PLAYER OF TOURNAMENT: Asha TAUMOEPEAU-WILLIAMS (NZ U18)

2025 Global Youth Sevens Boys Tournament Team
1 Treyvon PRITCHARD (Australia U18)
2 Max PRYKIEL (Australia U18)
3 Jake HUTCHINGS (NZ U18)
4 Brayden NEILSON (NZ U18)
5 Johan SCHAUMKELL (NZ Cavaliers)
6 Te Ariki ROGERS (Aotearoa Māori )
7 Matt FLEMING (NZ U18)

MVP FINAL: Matt FLEMING (NZ U18)
PLAYER OF TOURNAMENT: Treyvon PRITCHARD (Australia U18)

[Mauss]

I watched the boys’ final. The contrast with the 2024 encounter, between NZ and Australia U18, was quite stark, I felt. It was almost a reverse of last year’s match-up: now, it were the NZ U18 Boys who looked very well-prepared for their opponents, kicking in behind towards the space multiple times (Erasmus and Jones) and putting pressure on the opposition breakdown (Tuituba, Raviyawa, and Solomona all had breakdown steals).

https://giphy.com/gifs/b8p4PdMs9DFCGPuTwe
https://giphy.com/gifs/Q7mSVWpYFY0iQoPJl4
Using the outside of the boot while moving the kicking leg away from opposition contact: both Erasmus and Jones used similar techniques to put in effective kicks

Last year, I also remarked that the Australian U18s keep unearthing these tall, rangy athletes like Declan Minto and Cooper Watters who are remarkably effective at this level. This year, NZ U18s followed suit with what must’ve been the tallest squad they’ve assembled, with all of Hutchings, Neilson, Raviyawa, Fleming and Erasmus being close to 1m90 or taller.

They showed their value throughout these games, being able to break through tackles (Turinui noted Fleming’s hip strength as a key to this) as well as offload in contact.

https://giphy.com/gifs/TMYLOG36Or2nzklUMU
https://giphy.com/gifs/HKNz74vthsp4yoNEqw
Both Fleming and Raviyawa used their hip strength and length to stay alive and offload after contact, both offloads leading to tries

After last year’s relatively poor showing at the Global Youth 7s as well as the drubbings received by the NZ Schools team at the hands of the AU U18s this year, it was good to see some more astute selection and coaching decisions by NZ Rugby.

[Steven Harris]

@Mauss it’s a shame Australia lost Treyvon Pritchard during the tournament to a head knock he looked on target to become the MVP , had all the skills including pace to burn
Very impressed with Anru Erasmus , like Pritchard one to watch moving forward

[Bovidae]

I noticed that Pritchard wasn't wearing his headgear in the SF. That probably didn't help whenever he got concussed.

[Bovidae]

I don't see any rugby players who were involved in the U18 teams in this squad. There were definitely a few who played RL as well. Maybe some have signed for NRL teams in Aust?

https://www.warriors.kiwi/news/2026/01/20/afoa-named-to-captain-2026-sg-ball-cup-side/

[Nepia]

@Bovidae said in School Rugby 2025:

I don't see any rugby players who were involved in the U18 teams in this squad. There were definitely a few who played RL as well. Maybe some have signed for NRL teams in Aust?

https://www.warriors.kiwi/news/2026/01/20/afoa-named-to-captain-2026-sg-ball-cup-side/

No doubt I'll be seeing an article soon in the Oz papers claiming all the players have been poached from rugby just because of the high schools they're from.

It's interesting seeing two St Johns Hastings players in that squad, as I've been a proponent of a national league comp where schools like St Johns become the league school in the region as they're well off the pace in rugby.