Blues sow the seeds for rugby dreams

Blues lock Josh Goodhue (Kawakawa) signing 8-year-old Arama Schultz' new T-shirt while Kayde Davies-Cooper looks on. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Auckland Blues players hope a three-day tour of Northland will help them reconnect with the small towns where many of their top players first picked up a ball.

The Blues Super Rugby franchise is supposed to represent Auckland, North Harbour and Northland, but the Northland part of the equation has too often been neglected.

Captain Patrick Tuipulato, who also plays lock for the All Blacks, said this week's tour was the start of putting that right.

''We're trying to mend the relationship between Northland and the Blues. It's always Northland that seems to miss out, even though a lot of our team, like Rieko Ioane, Sam Nock, Josh Goodhue, are staunch Northlanders. We're doing our best to get out here and not just play lip service," he said.

The squad headed north in a fleet of campervans on Tuesday, stopping off at 14 schools and clubs to hand out team merchandise and about 250 pairs of re-purposed boots from the Blues Best Boot Forward programme.

Their last stop of the day before the campground at Matauri Bay was the Moerewa Rugby Club, where the juniors, seniors and under-15 girls were having a pre-season training night.

Northland players at the Moerewa event included Kerikeri-born Sam Nock, who capped a stellar year in 2020 by being named Northland's Mitre 10 Cup and Players' Player of the Year.

The halfback went to Moerewa Primary School, and his father played for Kawakawa and Moerewa.

''It's nice to get into smaller communities where they probably only see us on TV. We want to reconnect with a few clubs and schools, and let people know we appreciate their support," he said.

Lock Josh Goodhue, whose parents still own a farm between Moerewa and Kawakawa, recalled when the boot was on the other foot and he was a schoolboy going to Whangārei to meet the Blues.

''It was really motivational for us,'' he said.

Simone Ngawati, Moerewa rugby mum and junior committee member, said it was a great chance for Moerewa youngsters to meet players from their home town who had succeeded at the sport's highest level.

"It's the stuff that kids dream of. Everybody wants to make it big, and seeing the Josh Goodhues, the Sam Nocks, the Rieko Ioanes, it makes it real for kids. It shows them it's doable, it is achievable. It's really inspiring," she said.

It was also a chance for local kids to see that top rugby players weren't so different from them after all.

"Yes, they are superstars, but they are normal people too, with normal mums and dads," she added.

That was echoed by Ōtiria Rugby Club captain Hone Townsend, who had invited some moko and junior players along from nearby Ōtiria.

"It's great for the kids to come along and see that these players are human. They are not supermen, they are normal blokes who have put in a good effort and become something," he said.

Wayne Martin, senior men's coach for Moerewa United Kawakawa, said meeting a couple of local boys playing for the Blues would show youth there was a pathway for them if they were determined to compete at that level.

"It's huge for them, to have these rugby superstars come to their town. The only other time these kids will see them is on TV. Just to be able to get a photo with them, shake hands, talk to them – these kids will remember that for the rest of their lives," he said.

Yesterday afternoon the squad split up to visit a waka ama club, pre-schools and a retirement village, and even did some supermarket shelf-stacking.

After a training session from 10am to noon at the Kerikeri Sports Complex today the players will take part in 'skills and drills' activities with local kids.