BLUES U20s CELEBRATE GROWTH WITH VICTORY

The Blues celebrated their growth with a seven-try victory over the Crusaders in their final game in the Bunnings Warehouse Super Rugby Next Gen Under-20 tournament in Taupo.

After earlier losses to the Hurricanes 35-27 and Highlanders 40-29, the boys in Blue regrouped and put in a performance of superlatives to beat the Crusaders 48-27 at Owen Delaney Park.

They bagged three tries to lead 19-3 at the break and both sides scored some spectacular efforts in the second half in an entertaining encounter.

The loose forwards enjoyed some strong-running incursions, to bag four tries between them, while No 8 Wallace Sititi led his men on and off the field superbly.

Coach Steven Bates said he was proud of how the team regrouped after their opening two losses.

“It was nice to finish off well. It was a pretty tough week – you come down and get beaten in the first two games. 

But what we were able to do as management and playing group was to stay tight and connected, not throw in the towel and put in a performance that was by far our best all season.

It means we have a good group of young men, a good management group and we have pride in what we do.”

Bates said that while the team had not played much rugby over the past 18 months in the region, they rose to the challenge.

“What is really pleasing is that in this final game we played at a level of rugby that we have not played before.  Over these three games, we got exposed to this level early, but grew and adapted to it.

Some boys really stepped up and overall we made good improvement in a lot of little areas. They were only small tweaks but that allowed us to play a better brand of football. With a nucleus of 10-12 players likely to be available next year, there is a good group to build on.

It is now over to the work of the Provincial Unions to make sure they help build on that so when they come down next year to this tournament, they are better than this year.”

Final game: Blues 48 (Chlayton Frans, Sam Hainsworth-Fa’aofo 2, Wallace Sititi, Allan Craig, Jordan Hutchings, Quinton Nichols tries; Ben Smith 4 cons; Cam Howell pen, con) Crusaders 27.