Wellington U19s Player Profile: Josh Houston-Tupou

Above: Josh Houston-Tupou playing for the Upper Hutt Rams Colts earlier this year.

The Wellington U19s are the defending National U19 tournament champions. Last year they won the Graham Mourie Cup at the inaugural National Jock Hobbs Memorial event. Leading up to the 2015 tournament, Club Rugby will profile some of the young Lions who are likely to feature in the tournament and indeed the future of the game in the capital.

Josh Houston-Tupou is used to being the standout player in his team.

The old boy of Upper Hutt College was selected for the First XV in Year 11 as an injury replacement. The injured player hardly got another run.

Houston-Tupou reflects fondly of his time at Upper Hutt College.

"The highlight was the brotherhood we built. We weren't a great team, but we would bleed for each other," he says.

Despite a close bond with his teammates and outstanding individual performances, Houston-Tupou was completely overlooked for representative selection.

"I went through a phase where I wondered if rugby was for me. I know Upper Hutt is not a big rugby school, but I wasn't getting a look in and that frustrated me," he admits.

Houston-Tupou kept his composure and increased his focus. At the start of the year when the Upper Hutt Colts established their goals for the season, Huston-Tupou explicitly stated to the coaching staff he would like to make the Wellington Under-19's.

Upper Hutt played a vibrant style of rugby reaching the semi-finals of the Paris Memorial Trophy. They won 12 out of 15 games and Houston-Tupou scored a team leading 14 tries. Huston-Tupou flourished around better players.

"It was great to play in a team that had so many good players. Sometimes at Upper Hutt College I felt like I was carrying the team on my back. In the Colts we had lots of leaders."

The Upper Hutt Rams is the most represented club in the Wellington Under-19s'. They gained five selections in the final squad. The others are: Delano Morkel, Kaide McCashin, Daniel Schrijvers and Vern Sosefo.

Houston-Tupou started his rugby as a loose forward before switching to prop and finally settling at hooker. He says the position of hooker is a rapidly changing one.

"When I started as a hooker I was just a typical forward, stay tight and charge it up the guts. Now the hooker roams wider and needs to be more skilful. Everybody needs to have a good catch and pass now," he explains.

Houston-Tupou brings league skills to rugby. He was a member of the Upper Hutt tigers under-15 team that won a club championship and says for a while league was a real possibility.

"I enjoyed league. When it folded at the College, I played for club. I started as a hooker before moving into the second-row.”

Houston-Tupou comes from a talented sports family. His mother Debbie was a New Zealand gymnastics representative and his father Rodney played senior rugby before a serious back injury ended his career.

Houston-Tupou has started both Hurricanes seeding games and scored three tries. Wellington has scored 130 points, trouncing the Hurricanes Barbarians (84-0) and Hawke's Bay (46-7). He is excited about how the team is coming together.

"The boys are all getting on and starting to get used to each other on the field. When we click, we have a good team."