Northern Advocate
  • Northern Advocate home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei
  • Kaipara
  • Mangawhai
  • Dargaville

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northern Advocate

Rugby: Northland sign Debreczeni, Straker for 2018 season

Northern Advocate
11 Feb, 2018 09:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Melbourne Rebels first five Jack Debreczeni will join Northland for the 2018 Mitre 10 Cup Championship. Photo / Getty Images

Melbourne Rebels first five Jack Debreczeni will join Northland for the 2018 Mitre 10 Cup Championship. Photo / Getty Images

Northland have made early moves ahead of the 2018 Mitre 10 Cup by signing a first five and a prop.

Jack Debreczeni and Jack Straker will ply their trade in the Cambridge Blue as Northland look to build on a good 2017 season.

The 24-year-old Debreczeni is capable of playing both first five and fullback while Straker will add some more grunt to an impressive front row.

Debreczeni has played Super Rugby for the Melbourne Rebels since 2014, playing 42 games over the last four seasons.

A former Australian Schoolboys representative, Debreczeni is known for his prodigious boot.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

More recently he helped the Honda Heat win the 2017-18 Top Challenge League in second-tier domestic competition.

The win secured them promotion to the Top League.

Debreczeni told the Melbourne Rebels Facebook page his time in Japan reinvigorated his passion for the game.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It was an unreal experience, winning the Challenge Cup there in Japan," he said.

"They'll be promoted to the top league over there next year. They were a great bunch of guys in a semi-professional environment. I found my love for the game a bit again.

"You see guys who work all day and still come to trainings and they love it. It was awesome to be a part of it."

Straker meanwhile made his debut for Canterbury during the 2017 Mitre 10 Cup after being loaned out to Tasman earlier in the campaign.

The 24-year-old front rower will join the engine room and will vie for a starting spot with incumbents Ross Wright and Ropate Rinakama.

Northland will again fight for promotion from the Mitre 10 Cup Championship after losing to eventual champions Wellington in the semifinals.

Northland will take on Manawatu, Southland, Hawke's Bay, Otago, Bay of Plenty and the recently relegated Waikato in their inter-competition matches.

They'll also face four Premiership sides in their 10-game regular season as crossover fixtures: Taranaki (home), Auckland (home), Counties-Manukau (away) and North Harbour (away).

New Zealand Rugby's Head of Provincial Union Rugby Steve Lancaster said these crossover games are exciting with no guarantee the Premiership team will come away with the win.

"As we've seen in the 2017 season, the quality of rugby was outstanding, with some great match-ups between teams from the Premiership and Championship," he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Wellington is a great example of this, beating eventual Premiership winners Canterbury convincingly in a crossover fixture.

"Wellington made the games against Premiership opposition count, winning three of their four crossover fixtures, and eventually earning promotion into the Premiership for 2018."

Current Northland squad: (number of Northland appearances in brackets)
Jordan Olsen (27), Matt Moulds (45), Ropate Rinakama (10), Ross Wright (82), Jack Straker (0), Josh Goodhue (22), Murray Douglas (10), Tom Robinson (5), Matt Matich (19), Kara Pryor (38), Sam Nock (27), Jack Debreczeni (0), Jack Goodhue (9), Scott Gregory (0), Blake Hohaia (5), Tamati Tua (16), Jordan Hyland (29), Jone Macilai (36), Matt Wright (38).

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Sport

Māori All Blacks beaten by Scotland

Northern Advocate

'Incredible': Northland retirees become world champs in new sport

Sport

NZ shearers prepare for Scotland's toughest sheep


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

Māori All Blacks beaten by Scotland
Sport

Māori All Blacks beaten by Scotland

Visitors bounce back after a flying start from the hosts in Whangārei.

05 Jul 05:39 AM
'Incredible': Northland retirees become world champs in new sport
Northern Advocate

'Incredible': Northland retirees become world champs in new sport

27 Jun 07:00 PM
NZ shearers prepare for Scotland's toughest sheep
Sport

NZ shearers prepare for Scotland's toughest sheep

25 Jun 10:36 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northern Advocate e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Northern Advocate
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northern Advocate
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP