Taranaki U19s embark on tournament

Above photo: Manasa Mataele is one player who has played in the U19 tournament and then played NPC rugby within a year. 

The Taranaki U19 team will head to Taupo this week for the Jock Hobbs Memorial U19 Tournament after qualifying for the top division, the Graham Mourie Cup.  

Taranaki had to work hard to qualify for the top eight after beating Bay of Plenty, losing to Waikato but needing to win against Counties Manukau which they did in Stratford.  

The amber and blacks have been grouped with Auckland A, Auckland B, Waikato, Wellington, Manawatu, Canterbury and Otago while North Harbour, Northland, Counties Manukau, Bay of Plenty, Hawkes Bay, Heartland, Tasman and Southland will compete for the Michael Jones Trophy.

Taranaki’s first game is against Auckland on Thursday afternoon with kick off at 5pm televised on Sky Sport 1. Day two is scheduled for Sunday with their opponent undecided as the result will determine who they will play. The final day is on Wednesday 21 September with a series of play off matches and finals.  

Coach Tim Stuck will be joined by former Hurricanes and Taranaki front rower Laurence Corlett with Josh Hamilton, Adam Hay and Dean Spicer involved in the training and management party.

Stuck told Access Radio Taranaki’s sports programme Get Onside in July about the challenges the U19 side faces this year.  

“We don’t have the luxury of having a massive amount of under 19 players to choose from, but the boys that front and turn up are usually pretty typical Taranaki gutsy players with plenty of ticker and that’s probably what’s been our success over the past few years” he said.    

Stuck said he doesn’t think they will have the element of surprise they had over the last few seasons.  

Over the last few seasons of the competition, the side has managed to make the play offs but struggled to advance further.  

Taranaki U19 tournment squad: Alex Mitchell, Beauden Fleming, Brendan Dent, Brendan Mobbs, Bryn Chard, Cole Blyde, Cooper Rodgers, Daniel Parete, Enele Fidow, Jake Jarman, Jayden Calder, Josh Perrett, Keani Broughton, Kyle Stewart, Liam Blyde, Legend Campus, Matt McKenzie, Michael Winter, Mitch O’Neill, Reuben McLeod, Regan Livingstone, Shaane Waite, Sione Ahokava, Steven Snoxell. Jake White and Liam Bernet were ruled out due to injury.