Rugby: NZ juniors ready to battle Samoa

Simon Hickey is on the bench tonight. Photo / Getty Images

While it’s been a mix and match selection, Lienert-Brown’s team looks well balanced.

Twelve months of planning since the disappointments of the fourth-place finish at the 2013 Junior World Championship come to a head tonight as the New Zealand Under 20s face Samoa at QBE Stadium in Albany.

New Zealand have opted to use first-five Simon Hickey and wing Tevita Li off the bench after joining the squad yesterday, in what looks to be a mix-and-match selection. Centre Anton Lienert-Brown of the Chiefs will captain the side.

Regular midfielder TJ Faiane shifts to the left wing, while the halves are Mitch Drummond and Richie Mo'unga of the Crusaders region. The skilled Damian McKenzie will show his wares from fullback. In the pack, watch for lock James Tucker, winner of the 2012 Bronze Boot for NZ Schools versus their Australia counterparts, while Atu Moli, from the 2013 NZ Schools, wins the loosehead berth. Overall, it looks a well-balanced combination to combat Samoa.

Accurate information on the Samoans is hard to come by, but we do know they had four, losing, hit-outs against the Australian Under 20s (x2), the Blues Development XV and the Counties Cavaliers.

Some of the players trialled for the NZ Under 20s, among them prop Etimani Sului and centre Aukuso Tuitama. There is a solid mix of NZ, Australian and Samoan-based talent, with around half the squad who play their rugby in the Auckland region. Midfielder William Talaitaina Mu plays for Auckland's Ponsonby club, while centre Nathaniel Apa was in the 2013 NZ Schools side. The captain is loose forward Henry Stowers out of Wellington's Wainuiomata club. Steven Luatua played for this side in 2010 before shifting to the NZ team a year later.

Samoan coach is former Manu Samoa flanker and skipper Semo Sititi: "I have a lot of belief in these guys that they can do a job. We've had a good build-up and we are getting better and better, so hopefully the boys will front up [today] and give New Zealand a good game."

Sititi was guarded on his possible strategy. "If we don't do well in the set-piece, we can't function as a team, but the backs need some ball to score off. Defence is the biggest thing for us, because we know New Zealand can attack from anywhere."

Pick of games
The pick of today's JWC games, other than New Zealand-Samoa, shapes as the France-Ireland clash in Albany, a Pool B fixture.
France are the reigning Under 20 Six Nations Grand Slam champions but were pushed hard, 23-13, by Mike Ruddock's Ireland in the final match of that championship in March. The winner of this will go toe-to-toe with 2013 JWC runner-up Wales, who should have a much easier passage today against Fiji in Pukekohe.

Pool A: Argentina v Australia, 1.35pm; England v Italy, 5.35pm;
Pool B: Wales v Fiji, 3.35pm (QBE Stadium, Albany); France v Ireland, 5.35pm.
Pool C: South Africa v Scotland, 3.35pm; NZ v Samoa, 7.35pm.