Whanganui rugby product Stephen Perofeta played an integral part in the New Zealand Under 20s' 30-10 victory over their Australian counterparts in the opening Oceania international on the Gold Coast on Tuesday night.
Perofeta started in the No10 jersey with Beauden Barrett's younger brother Jordie on his outside and thefive-eighths combination looked more than useful. Barrett scored 15 points, including a try, two conversions and two penalties.
Perofeta played for the Steelform Wanganui Heartland team while still at Wanganui Collegiate School and, in fact, was nominated for Heartland Player of the Year last season. He narrowly missed the honour that went to team-mate Lindsay Horrocks.
The 19-year-old has since defected to Taranaki where he plays for the Clifton club and it would not surprise to see him and Barrett knocking on the door to become the favoured five-eighths combination for Taranaki in the Mitre 10 Cup.
On Tuesday the four tries to one victory was ultimately decisive, but there is plenty of work ahead for New Zealand before Saturday's second match. In particular, the scrum came under heat from Australia, while the lineout was inconsistent. But they defended well, and Hawke's Bay wing Mason Emerson ran with dash and scored two tries, the second off a cross-kick. Burly prop Alex Fidow made some bullocking charges in maximum impact off the bench.
Both sides struggled with the humidity which made the opening spell handling a challenge. Lock Sam Caird was New Zealand's go-to lineout man, but they could not always connect with him.
New Zealand's cause was helped greatly going into the final quarter when Australian tighthead prop Tyrel Lomax, son of former Kiwi John Lomax, was sinbinned for a dangerous neck roll on flanker Mitch Jacobson. Fidow's presence seemed to right the scrum, and New Zealand even poached a tighthead at the death.
The coaching staff and the players themselves will seek more on the weekend, but this was a solid platform from which to forge their world championship plans.
