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Winiata Tarawa, of YMP, and Niao Savage, of Uawa, have been rewarded for impressive club form with selection for the Heartland under-19 rugby team.
The team will compete in the Jock Hobbs Memorial tournament, which starts at Taupo on Sunday.
Savage, a centre-cum-winger in his first season at senior level, helped Uawa win the Rangiora Keelan Memorial Shield.
The former Tolaga Bay Area School and Wairoa College student started his rugby career as a loose forward.
“He has really impressed in his new role with Uawa this season,” Ngati Porou East Coast backs coach Troy Para said.
“He’s 6ft 2in (1.88m) tall and weighs 92 kilograms (14st 6lb), and is a solid defender with good pace. Niao is a humble young man who has represented Ngati Porou East Coast at 16s, under-18s and NZ Area School level.”
Tarawa played in the Poverty Bay competition this year and was a member of the YMP squad who were runners-up to Waikohu in the Lee Bros Shield final.
“Wini trained with us last year but wanted to nail down his job as a glazier before concentrating on rugby this season,” YMP coach Steve Smith said.
“He was our most consistent trainer. He never missed a training session and was always wanting to learn.
“He’s not the biggest winger but he’s got a huge heart and was totally committed to the team.
“He was gutted when he missed out on selection for the final but he was at the game supporting the boys.
“Making the u19 team is just reward.”
The tournament is a key calendar event for New Zealand’s emerging young rugby talent and will once again feature a combined team selected from Heartland Championship provinces.
Horowhenua Kapiti’s Aleni Feagaiga takes up the reins as coach for the first time and has selected representatives from each of the Heartland unions.
Feagaiga said the existence of a Heartland team encouraged young players to stay in the game beyond college and aspire to be part of the tournament. It also gave them real opportunities to develop their game.
Teams will assemble on September 8, and the tournament takes place on September 9, 12 and 15. It will be part of a week-long event that will include development programmes for the players, parents, coaches and referees on non-playing days.
Players from previous tournaments have gone on to represent New Zealand at World Rugby’s Under-20 Championship. Some have been given Mitre 10 Cup and Super Rugby contracts, and some have played for the All Blacks.
Sixteen teams comprising a total of 400 players will compete — that’s one team from each of the Mitre 10 Cup provincial unions, one Auckland development team and one Heartland Unions combined team.
Regional seeding tournaments started on August 18.
Teams in each region will be ranked 1 to 4, with the top two ranked sides in each region going into the top eight of the tournament draw to play for the Graham Mourie Cup, and the third- and fourth-ranked teams going into the championship eight to contest the Michael Jones Trophy.
Auckland A and Counties Manukau go into the tournament as defending champions of the Graham Mourie Cup and Michael Jones Trophy respectively.