National U19s tournament starting this Sunday

Above: Willie Tufui dives over to score a try in the rain last weekend for the Wellington U19s against the Hawke's Bay U19s.

Apart from a side trip over to Napier on Wednesday for the Ranfurly Shield challenge, all roads lead to Taupo next week for the Jock Hobbs Memorial National U19 Tournament.

Wellington, Waikato, Auckland and Canterbury will arrive at the inaugural tournament starting this Sunday as top seeds, to be joined by Taranaki, Bay of Plenty, North Harbour and Otago who make up the other four spots in the Premiership division for the Graham Mourie Cup.

Tasman, Manawatu, Auckland B, Counties Manukau, Southland, Northland, Hawke's Bay and the New Zealand Heartland team compete in the Championship division of the tournament for the Michael Jones Trophy.

Games are being played on Sunday 28 September, Wednesday 1 October and Saturday 4 October, with players taking part in development programmes on non-game days.

Wellington Head Coach Clayton McMillan said the squad's excited about the tournament after an encouraging build-up.

"Our preparation started in the middle of the year with an enlarged squad doing skills and fitness, which has been reflected in the three Seeding Tournament wins we've had over Manawatu, Taranaki and Hawke's Bay," said McMillan.

"We recognise the importance of this being the first U19 national competition and we always felt that we had enough good players in Wellington to put together a competitive team, but we'd have to do more than just name a team and show up."

After defeating the Bay of Plenty U19s 60-12 in their first hit-out, the Junior Lions beat Manawatu 33-15, Taranaki 25-20 and Hawke's Bay 67-0 on consecutive weekends. McMillan said the close contest against Taranaki in particular was just the game they needed ahead of the tournament proper.

As top qualifier from the Hurricanes region, Wellington plays the second Blues region side on Sunday, North Harbour. Second placed Hurricanes region qualifier Taranaki meets Auckland.

In Northern Region qualifying, North Harbour had a 21-14 win over Auckland B, a 50-10 win over Northland and then suffered a 3-33 defeat to the top Auckland side.

McMillan said that every team in the top eight will be strong.

"Because it's a national competition, I think everybody's taken it a lot more seriously. We've endeavoured to try and get video footage of the teams that we're playing, and in the one game we've seen of North Harbour on our laptops they look like a fairly decent team. Obviously the Blues region has got lots of good players to choose from.

"If you've made the top eight it's going to be really hard, but we're confident in our own ability that we'll certainly be competitive if we put our best foot forward."

Wellington has named a well-balanced side with four players, hooker Leni Apisai, midfielder Wes Goosen, utility back Chase Tiatia and flanker Henry Stowers all having played for the Wellington Lions this year.

Several other players have played Premier rugby in 2014, while other grades are also represented, such as the four players selected from the champion Old Boys University Green Colts side that won their final against Hutt Old Boys Marist, loose forward Luke Tau'alupe, Jarod Martinovich, back George Boyhan and prop Morgan Poi.

Old Boys University Premier/Senior 1 halfback Luke Campbell will captain the side.

As well as McMillan, who coached the MSP Premiers to their Jubilee Cup win in 2012, this year's Old Boys University assistant and former New Zealand Maori pivot Ray MacDonald is the backs coach, with former Hurricanes lock and 2014 MSP Senior 1 coach Bernie Upton helping the forwards and the lineout.

Additionally, Hurricanes and Lions prop Jeff Toomaga-Allen has been helping the forwards out.

"We've been utilising Jeff Toomaga-Allen as he's currently injured and is getting itchy feet so he's been coming along and taking our scrum practices. We've tried to provide the players with guys with a lot of experience in specific positions so they can get a lot of upskilling and dealing with guys like Jeff on a regular basis inspired them to improve."

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The draw for the first day in Taupo is:

11.05 am: Auckland B v Hawke's Bay

11.05 am: Counties Manukau v Southland

2.05 pm: Northland v Manawatu

2.05 pm: Bay of Plenty v Canterbury

4.05 pm: Heartland v Tasman

5.05 pm: Waikato v Otago

5.05 pm: North Harbour v Wellington

6.05 pm: Auckland A v Taranaki

The Heartland v Tasman and the Auckland A v Taranaki match will be broadcast live on Sky TV.

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Meanwhile, the final round of the Hurricanes U19 Development Series was played in Palmerston North last Saturday. The scores of the two matches played were: Wanganui 20 - Horowhenua-Kapiti 7, and Wellington Samoan Secondary Schools 36 - Wairarapa-Bush 0.

Following Saturday's result, Wanganui were the Winners of the inaugural Heartland Series. The Player of the Series award was shared between Jona Nareki (Wanganui) and Alex Ropeti (Wellington Samoan Secondary Schools).

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The Wellington U19 squad for Taupo is:

Leni Apisai, Teariki Ben -Nicholas, James Blackwell, James Bowen, George Boyhan, Luke Campbell, Sam Dawson, Liam Doherty, Liam Hallam-Eames, Te Ara Henderson, Jordan Glen Bradbrook, Wesley Goosen, Tane Iakopo, Jordan Leuluai, Tao-Roi Lupo, Conor Maddix-Wikaira, Andrew Mamea, Anthony Mamea, Jarod Martinovich, Troy Mohr, Aleks Noble-Campbell, Faraimo Nofoaiga, Peter Pili, Morgan Poi, Jack Ross, Josh Robertson -Weepu, Salio Sia, Fereti Soloa, Henry Stowers, Francis Tanuvasa, Luke Taualupe, Chase Tiatia, Willie Tufui, Pakai Turia, Sam Wasley