Rugby: Young guns out for revenge

Bay of Plenty's top young footy players will be out to exact revenge against their Counties Manukau equivalents today in a match serving as a trial for the union's under-20 rep side ahead of a northern regional competition beginning in August.

Steamers assistant coach Rodney Gibb believes the match will provide a valuable insight into the progress made by the group that has been training alongside the Steamers' wider training group and the union's Inside Running Academy.

"We got a bit of a towelling when we played them in Waihi earlier in the year so it will be a great opportunity to see if we can get one back," said Gibb.

"It's a good chance to look at the talent heading into the under-20 competition and making sure we are getting the right players.

"We've got a core group of the academy guys and we've built the team around that. The majority of the boys played the last game and we've got between six to eight new guys in, so they are basically all under-20 guys."

The side has its final training run on Sunday ahead of the 5pm kick-off at Paeroa Domain.

John-Bosco Tagaloa, Joe Ormsby, Josh White, Zion Ropatini and Rob Maxwell were either unavailable or injured.

Steamers under-20s squad

Forwards: Jamal Reriti, Sean McVeigh, Ricoh Flavell, Caleb Oaks, Carlin Tata, Arapou Whata, Troy Callander, Lars Morrice, Taylor Jones, Beau Williams, Joe Key, Matty Axtens, Sammy Paulson, Jeff Thwaites, Aaron Carroll.

Backs: Te Aihe Toma, Carlos Savage, Tim O'Malley, Carlos Basham, Mike Webber, Graydon Scheres, Danny Kayes, Maika Smith, Elijah Nicholas, Junior Tofa Va'a, Vince Cooney, Shem Wharerau, Jerry Moli.