Rising star

THROUGH THE GAP: And there were plenty of them in the Heartland Championship match between LeaderBrand Poverty Bay and Thames Valley in Gisborne on Saturday. Flying up the middle of Rugby Park is lively Bay fullback Tamati Samuels in a high-scoring affair won 43-37 by the Swamp Foxes. The home side finished strongly and picked up two bonus points for their efforts to put them third on the table after two games. Pictures by Paul Rickard

POVERTY Bay coach and former New Zealand Maori forward Mutu Ngarimu says Gisborne Boys’ High first 15 captain Isaia Walker-Leawere — who made his senior provincial debut against Thames Valley on Saturday —has “the potential to be something special”.

“He does his core roles well, he’s big, he’s strong, he’s got good skills and showed when he came on at the weekend that he is more than capable of competing at this level,” said Ngarimu, whose LeaderBrand Poverty Bay side crashed to a 43-37 loss to Thames Valley in the second game of the Heartland Championship.

“It’s a credit to Boys’ High, in particular coach Tom Cairns, who has developed not only Isaia but a lot of other talented rugby players over the years.”

Unfortunately for the Bay, the 18-year-old, son of Ruatoria policewoman Leone Walker and former Fijian international Kele Leawere is unlikely to be available for too many Bay games. He is expected to be named on Monday to attend a New Zealand Schools training camp.

From that camp a squad will be named for games against Australia, Australia B, Samoa and a New Zealand Barbarians side in October.

“I’d love to play more games for the Bay but a lot will depend on what happens if I’m named in the camp for the secondary schools team,” said Isaia, who, like his father, is a lock.

“I enjoy playing rugby, no matter who it’s for, but playing for Poverty Bay at the weekend was special. It’s my home province and a lot of players have gone on from here to play at a higher level. I hope I can be another one to do that,”

Isaia, who has already been headhunted by the Hurricanes, said the Heartland game was “probably not any faster but definitely more physical than first 15 rugby . . . but I enjoy the physicality of rugby”.

Isaia’s last game for the school was a 33-all draw with Wellington’s Scots College in the Hurricanes region top-four semifinals.

“That was a hard way to end the season (GBHS were eliminated because Scots scored more tries).

“It would have been good to have gone on to play the final.”

Despite his father having played 26 matches and represented Fiji at the 2003 and 2007 Rugby World Cup tournaments and being the current assistant coach of the “Flying Fijians” under-20 team, Isaia’s loyalities lay lie New Zealand.

His ultimate goal is the All Blacks.

Meanwhile, Ngarimu has turned his attention to Saturday’s Heartland Championship clash with Horowhenua Kapiti in Waikanae.

“It’s become a must-win game for us, not just for the points but to get the confidence back after the weekend when we were our own worst enemies.

“We’ve (he and assistant coach Rico Gear) looked at a tape of the game and it was frustrating. Last week we spent time on our defensive systems but on the day we didn’t do what we were supposed to do. There were other areas that was disappointing but there’s no point dwelling on them. We have to look at the positives from that game — taking two bonus points, scoring some good tries, creating opportunities and the bench guys playing well, particularly Ken Houkamau and Sione Ngatu.

“Ken, who also made an impact when he came on against the Coast last week, is knocking on the door to start against Horowhenua Kapiti.”

Horowhenua Kapiti have yet to win this season, going down 39-34 at home to Wanganui and 34-38 away to King Country.

Ngarimu said apart from hurt pride his side came through the Valley game with no injuries.

“That’s another positive.”