Rugby: Young guns helping to fire up Counties

August Pulu has impressed Counties Manukau coach Milton Haig with his performances this season. Photo / Dean Purcell

It says much about Counties Manukau's commitment to promoting young talent in the region that two of their most impressive players have a combined age that barely exceeds their most celebrated player's.

Halfback August Pulu, 20, and fullback Tim Nanai-Williams, 21, have provided the impetus that has propelled Counties to the top of the ITM Cup table and gives them real hope of an upset in tomorrow's Ranfurly Shield challenge against Southland.

Granted, it is early days and there is every chance they could come unstuck by season's end, but at the moment it is good times in the Franklin district.

"There's a good culture in this team," says Pulu.

Part of that culture is driven by a desire to prove people wrong. As a team they are aware that if the management of the New Zealand Rugby Union had got their way, they would be playing in the wasteland of a six-team second division, rather than having the opportunity to take on and beat the likes of Otago and Wellington.

For Pulu, the rejection was more personal.

Earlier this year he missed selection for the New Zealand under-20 side that would go on to become world champions, a decision Counties coach Milton Haig said Pulu found hard to take.

"He was bitterly disappointed to miss out on a team I thought he was good enough to make," Haig says. "When he came back from that disappointment we sat him down and asked him what his objectives were and he made it clear his focus was on the ITM Cup and showing he should have been picked.

"He's worked really hard and he's playing outstanding rugby. He's holding Sami Fisilau out - he was shaping as our number one halfback at the beginning of the campaign, but August is playing so well I can't drop him."

Pulu will concede, through gritted teeth maybe, that the under-20 selectors might have been right.

"They said I wasn't fit enough," he says. "At the time it probably was true.

"It was a big disappointment for me, but I wanted to bounce back and use that [rejection] to my advantage."

Aside from fitness, Pulu was told he needed to work on two core skills: kicking and running.

It wasn't that he couldn't do either, rather that he would choose the wrong time to do the former and did too much of the latter. Pulu loved to run, but it was for his sake, not the team's.

"We needed him to be less confrontational," Haig explains. "What you see now is that when he does go he's setting something up and when he does take on the line he's looking for and getting offloads.

"He's not only getting Counties coaches excited, he's getting Super 14 coaches excited, which is great."

Pulu, two years out of Wesley College, grew up in the same South Auckland talent nursery as Nanai-Williams.

While Pulu's game is still raw, a season with the Chiefs has seen Nanai-Williams add substance to the sparkle.

Not a lot went right for the Chiefs this year, but injuries meant Nanai-Williams, who was set for a watch-and-learn brief, figured on Ian Foster's team sheet more than was anticipated.

"He came back from the sevens campaign a couple of years ago with a little more maturity and a better understanding of what it takes to be a professional," Haig says.

"He's now come back from the Chiefs with a really good understanding of his role and a really good understanding of football.

"He's an absolute professional now. We're so pleased for him because he's a kid we believe can go higher up."

They have similar hopes for Pulu, too, but right now his goals are a little pressing. "I'm loving my rugby right now and can't wait to get stuck into one of the All Black halfbacks," he says.

Southland won't be able to call on Jimmy Cowan, but they've rustled up his brother, Scott. Will that do?

"Can't wait."