An 18-year-old flanker from Liston College is the inaugural winner of the $30,000 Royal Wolf Rugby Tertiary Scholarship.
He is Adrian Choat, who plans to study at University of Auckland for an engineering degree, to follow in the footsteps of his civil engineer father whose company specialises in concrete kerbing.
The scholarship, valued at $10,000 per year for three years, was negotiated with Royal Wolf, New Zealand's leading shipping container firm, by the Auckland Rugby Union Supporters' Club Junior Rugby Foundation. It will be awarded annually to Auckland secondary school leavers, contracted by the New Zealand Rugby Union to commit to the Auckland union. Choat plays his club rugby for Waitemata and was in the Liston First XV this year.
At Tuesday night's announcement in the clubrooms of the Barbarians at Eden Park, by Royal Wolf's New Zealand manager, Paul Creighton, the foundation's chairman Barry Hodge said it was an historic occasion in that it takes the long-standing support by the Supporters Club to a new level, a virtual 'Rhodes scholarship' of rugby for young high performing young Auckland stars of the future.
As well as agreeing to maintain a required academic standard at university, scholarship winners will be required to commit to Auckland rugby. For many years, the foundation has been awarding bursaries of $500 each to 15 top Auckland secondary school players to help them through their final years of schooling.
Auckland Rugby Union chief executive Andy Dalton congratulated Royal Wolf and the Junior Rugby Foundation for this further positive step in encouraging emerging Auckland rugby talent in the current challenging open market.
