Rugby: Stalwart for club and country

Napier Old Boys Marist halfback Boris Bouhraoua will be playing for Algeria next month. Photo / File

Here in New Zealand, the world's best rugby nation, it's easy for fans to forget about international minnows.

Hawke's Bay Insurances Limited Napier Old Boys Marist halfback Boris Bouhraoua will be able to educate clubmates on the calibre of 12 of those minnows when he returns from the Crescent Cup Championship tournament in Malaysia. He will play for Algeria at the June 1-14 event.

"I qualify for Algeria through my grandfather. I first played for them five years ago and my last game was 18 months ago before I came to New Zealand," the former France Sevens representative said.

"I've only played seven games for them in five years. It's very difficult when you are a new federation [the Algeria union was formed in 2007] ... sometimes you only play one game a year."

A second-season NOBM player, Bouhraoua, 31, has fond memories of his last outing with Algeria, a team almost entirely selected from the French championships.

"We beat Ivory Coast which is the most important win since I've been with the team. Ivory Coast played at the 1995 World Cup and if we win the Crescent Cup we hope it will be the start of our qualification process for the 2019 World Cup.

"I know I'm unlikely to be playing then but my younger brothers will be and we're doing this for generations to come," Bouhraoua, the oldest of three brothers who have played for France on the World Sevens circuit, said.

Twelve teams from Muslim countries will play in Malaysia. Algeria will play three pool games and then a semifinal and final should they qualify.

"We're going there to win but at the same time we know Malaysia will be pretty tough."

A former France Universities under-21 and under-18 rep, Bouhraoua will play for NOBM in Saturday's first round Tui Maddison Trophy fixture at Park Island but will miss the next encounters against Hastings Rugby and Sports and Napier Pirate Rugby and Sports.

He will find out at training tonight whether he will start against Tech. There is a chance first five-eighth Tyrone Elkington-MacDonald may return from injury and if he does Magpies halfback Ellery Wilson will vacate the pivot role and start in the No 9 jersey.

"Tech will be a very hard team. We just beat them 22-18 three weeks ago, they play very good defence and have some very good players," he said.

Recent form suggests NOBM should pip the Texans by a similar margin again.

In other first-round Maddison Trophy fixtures on Saturday, expect defending champions Progressive Meats Havelock North to beat K9 Petfoods Clive by 13 at Anderson Park, back-to-back Nash Cup champions Carters Frame and Truss Taradale to beat MAC by nine at Flaxmere Park, Tanalised Napier Pirate Rugby and Sports to beat Northfuels Central by 11 at Tamatea Park and Ansin & Monteith Hastings Rugby and Sports to beat Tamatea by 21 at Bill Mathewson Park.