Taupō was treated to three days of super rugby last week.
A new tournament, the Super Rugby Aotearoa Under 20 was held at Owen Delany Park. It had under 20 sides from the Blues, Chiefs, Hurricanes, Crusaders, Highlanders along with a New Zealand Barbarians Club under 20 team taking part in three match days.
Presented by Bunnings Warehouse, the tournament marked a change for 2021 junior rugby, with provincial unions delivering regional Under 19 programmes in place of the Jock Hobbs Memorial National Under 19 tournament.
The tournament was played in a pool play format, so no overall winner was crowned.
New Zealand under-20s coach Tabai Matson said the tournament had been a phenomenal week with a high standard of play. The quality and intensity of play was amazing.
Selecting the side to contest the World Under-20 Championship was going to be a difficult, but good, task, he said.
New Zealand Rugby high performance player development manager Matt Sexton said rejuvenating the under 20 programme was pleasing after the Covid-19 enforced hiatus in 2020.
A playing programme for the New Zealand Under 20 will be confirmed in coming months, with the hope that a transtasman bubble will enable an Oceania Tournament later this year.
"The Super Rugby Aotearoa Under 20 tournament will give our emerging players a high level of game experience and give our talent identification network an effective platform to confirm players for the New Zealand Under 20 programme," said Matt.
The under 20s Chiefs were the only unbeaten team at the tournament.
Highlanders skipper and flanker Sean Withy was named the player of the tournament, securing the Sir John Graham Trophy for his efforts.
Scores
Highlanders 25 (Anese Poliko, Nathan Hastie 2 tries; Cameron Miller 2 con, 2pen) Crusaders 23 (Macca Springer 2, Corey Kellow tries; Chay Fihaki con, 2 pen). HT: 3-15
Chiefs 69 (Melino Fotu, Curtis Palmer 2, Ioane Moananu 2, Niwa Barlow, Tama Te Aute, Havila Molia, Kali Vaiplulu, Gideon Wrampling, Josh Bartlett tries; Josh Jacomb 7 con) Barbarians 28 (Jamie Hannah, Jackson Rainsford, Rowan Slater 2 tries; Louis Bartley-Saena 4 con). HT: 45-0
Hurricanes 15 (Kyle Brown, Peter Lakai tries; Aidan Morgan con, pen) Blues 71 (Vaiolini Ekusai, Corey Evans 2, Sofai Maka 3, Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens, Sage Shaw-Tait, Josh Beehre, Manu Paea, Ray Sua tries; Jock McKenzie 6 con; Christian Stenhouse 2 con ).