The four Wanganui Under 16 players selected for the Hurricanes development camp are, from left clockwise, Kalib Houltham, Harry Unsworth, Chris Breuer, and Patrick Parker, all 16. PHOTO/STUART MUNRO
The four Wanganui Under 16 players selected for the Hurricanes development camp are, from left clockwise, Kalib Houltham, Harry Unsworth, Chris Breuer, and Patrick Parker, all 16. PHOTO/STUART MUNRO
Four Wanganui teenagers cannot wait to test themselves inside a professional rugby environment after they have been chosen for the Hurricanes youth development camp in Wellington next month.
Winger Harry Unsworth, second-five Kalib Houltham, and locks Chris Breuer and Patrick Parker were all part of the Wanganui under-16 who competedat the Hurricanes regional tournament in Napier in October.
Unsworth was chosen in the tournament team and Wanganui under-16 manager Julie Church said the other three 16-year-olds earned a call-up with the wider group. "[Unsworth] more or less sealed his place with the Hurricanes. To have four selected in one go is awesome," she said.
Having also been a Wanganui representative age group cricketer, Unsworth grew up with soccer until switching to rugby at Wanganui Intermediate.
He played his way through the grades into the Collegiate 1st XV alongside team mate Parker, who moved to Wanganui from Melbourne in February and had played two years of club rugby in Victoria.
A member of the Wanganui High School 1st XV, Breuer was another standout at the regional tournament in October, having played the game since age five.
Also with the WHS 1st XV, Houltham is a natural athlete, having made the Manawatu Mustangs Under 15 league team, Central Force and NZ Maori under-16 touch teams, played basketball and, up until intermediate, soccer.
Wanganui under-16 coach John Church said he tells the players he is proud of them "all the time".
"But the boys couldn't have got there without the rest of the squad." The teenagers focus will be maintaining fitness for the Hurricanes camp on December 14.
