New Zealand's 2011 junior world championship-winning squad included six players who made the All Blacks for this World Cup. Photo / GETTY IMAGES
New Zealand's 2011 junior world championship-winning squad included six players who made the All Blacks for this World Cup. Photo / GETTY IMAGES
The long line of All Blacks graduating from the national under-20s continues to inspire talented youngsters.
About this time last year, Otere Black and Nehe Milner-Skudder were playing together in the ITM Cup final for Manawatu.
This morning, Milner-Skudder took part in the Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham.
It's a fact Black has pondered the past few weeks. The 20-year-old first-five doesn't want to get ahead of himself but can't help imagining the possibility of pulling on a black jersey at the next World Cup in Japan.
Black and Milner-Skudder grew up together even though there is four years age difference - Black went to Hato Paora College in Feilding and Milner-Skudder to Queen Elizabeth College down the road in Palmerston North - and the pair played touch together as youngsters.
This year, they were team-mates at the Hurricanes and it's not hard to imagine the two teaming up soon for the All Blacks.
Black was a member of the New Zealand side who won this year's world under-20 championships in Italy and followed that with selection for the Maori All Blacks.
This week, he earned a full-time Hurricanes contract and next season will likely act as back-up to Beauden Barrett.
The New Zealand under-20s side is seen as a key breeding ground for the All Blacks and a scan through the 2011 under-20s provides a good illustration.
In that squad was Brodie Retallick, Sam Cane, Beauden Barrett, TJ Perenara, Waisake Naholo and Codie Taylor, who were all in the All Blacks' World Cup squad.
On top of that, Dominic Bird, Steven Luatua, Luke Whitelock, Charles Piutau, Lima Sopoaga, Francis Saili and Brad Weber have all pulled on the black jersey and Brad Shields was in the World Cup wider training squad.
Gareth Anscombe played for Wales at the World Cup and Ben Tameifuna was on the verge of All Blacks selection in 2012 and has now signed with Racing Metro.
"It's motivating and something I want to be a part of. It's the pinnacle to play at a World Cup and something everyone wants to be a part of." Otere Black
It's an impressive list and the class of 2015 should be no exception.
This week, 12 of the squad of 28 secured full-time Super Rugby contracts and three more were in wider training groups. Some are already well known - Black, Akira Ioane, Blake Gibson, Tevita Li, Vince Aso and Atu Moli - and others are just waiting to be noticed.
Black was hoping to find somewhere in Rarotonga to watch this morning's game. He admits he didn't time his holiday particularly well, given the possibility of missing the final, but found watching the World Cup inspiring, particularly to see friend Milner-Skudder making an impact.
"It's a buzz for everyone who knows him," he says. "Talking to him and his family, it's been awesome.
"It's motivating and something I want to be a part of. It's the pinnacle to play at a World Cup and something everyone wants to be a part of."
It's a sentiment echoed by under-20s captain Moli.
"It inspires you to get to your dream," he says. "It's hard not to think that it could be you one day but I know I have a lot of hard work ahead to make it."
That hard work is something New Zealand Rugby emphasise to any aspiring players but really starts in the back yards and school grounds around the country. It's one of the main reasons why the All Blacks sit near or on top of world rugby.
"We really should not be able to compete against the likes of England, South Africa and France, who have eight or nine times more players and more resources than we do," says Neil Sorensen, NZR general manager professional rugby.
"It's up to us that this machine continues to churn out good talent.
"It would be arrogant to suggest that NZR produces that talent but it's the thousands of volunteers and schools in the backgrounds who help make it happen. I often talk about a young Sam Cane.
He might have started playing at five so he would have played for 15 or 16 years before he got into a professional environment. He's had thousands of people help him get to where he is."
Talent identification gets serious towards the end of secondary school and culminates in a series of under-17 camps and the selection of the New Zealand Schools side (and a Barbarians B team).
NZR recently added a national under-19 tournament in Taupo to provide something for players in between school and under-20s selection.
Each player identified by NZR has a report card, which scores them in categories such as technical aspects, tactics, nutrition and leadership, and stays with them throughout their professional careers.
It relies on co-operation between coaches and management at all levels of the game and is something that surprises visiting coaches.
"If you talk about the Basque or Toulon coach, I don't really think they give a shit about the national team," Sorensen says. "We have to work together."
It's a system that's working. NZR have a goal that 35 per cent of players in each New Zealand under-20s squad are Super Rugby players inside two years. Sorensen admits it's probably a "soft" ambition and one that needs inflating.
There are challenges, like the emphasis schools are putting on rugby programmes so early in a youngster's career and what being exposed to good money so young in life can do for a player, and the system needs to continue to evolve. But there's confidence the All Blacks are tracking well for the 2019 and 2023 World Cups.
"I think we are in good health," Sorensen says. "We are going to remain competitive at under-20 level, although it's going to be harder with all the resources other countries are throwing at it, and the All Blacks are looking good."
Black has already had a season at the Hurricanes as a member of the wider training group and was thrown into action this year when injuries hit.
He's already been exposed to what it takes to make it at the top level, having played and trained with the likes of Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Dane Coles and Milner-Skudder, not to mention his time with the Maori All Blacks.
"It's been pretty surreal this year," he says. "It's happened so quickly that I haven't really had time to reflect and enjoy it. It makes me feel like I am doing the right things and, if I keep working hard, then hopefully in a few more years ... "
