Bay of Islands College's Ryan Nankivell in Blues U18 camp

Ryan Nankivell, from Bay of Islands College, is the only Northlander form the region named in the Blues Under-18 Camp over the July school holidays

Last week he was crowned Northland's open boys' Table Tennis Champion and next week Ryan Nankivell will be getting rugby lessons from some of the best in the game.

Nankivell is the only Northlander named in the Blues Under-18 Camp over the July school holidays, which includes some of the best teenage rugby talent in the Blues Super Rugby franchise region.

Fifty players from 21 schools have been selected from 230 nominations put forward from schools in the Northland, North Harbour and Auckland rugby regions.

They will go into camp at Mt Albert Grammar from Sunday to July 12 before fielding two teams to take on the Hurricanes' U18 at Owen Delany Park in Taupo on July 15.

Nankivell is one of the most talented young Northland rugby players, but he's also pretty handy with the table tennis bat. Last week the Year 13 student won the boys' section of the Northland Secondary School Table Tennis Championship while his twin sister Daynah won the girls' section.

He and the rest of the young players will receive tuition from all the Mitre 10 coaches in the region including Derren Witcombe and George Konia (Northland); Tom Coventry and Dan Halangahu (North Harbour); and Alama Ieremia, Filo Tiatia and Tai Lavea (Auckland).

Current Blues players including Jerome Kaino, Sonny Bill Williams, Patrick Tuipulotu, Scott Scrafton, Dalton Papalii and Otere Black will also be present at the camp.

"It was a challenging job to select the final 50 players with the outstanding quality within our secondary schools scene and is a testament to the school programs and coaching they receive," said Blues talent identification and development manager, Shane King.

"After receiving a record number of nominations, we have run a series of combine days throughout the regions and watched a lot of games to whittle things down to our final 50 players.

"We are excited about the talent available, and also the outstanding contributions from our provincial union coaches and leading players."

The Blues legacy looks set to continue with Hamdahn Tuipulotu from St Peters College (brother of Patrick Tuipulotu) and Kitiona Vai (De La Salle), brother of Melani Nanai, among the players selected.