First Lions Tour team named
Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 2:23 am
The New Zealand Provincial Barbarians squad has been partially named for the first match of the Lions tour. The 19 players named so far are:
Forwards:
Aiden Ross (Bay of Plenty)
Tolu Fahamokioa (Wellington)
Sam Anderson-Heather (Otago)
Epalahame Faiva (Waikato)
Marcel Renata (Auckland)
Quinten Strange (Tasman)
Joshua Goodhue (Northland)
Heiden Bedwell-Curtis (Manawatu)
Mitchell Brown (Taranaki)
Matthew Matich (Northland)
Peter Rowe (Wanganui)
Backs:
Jonathan Taumateine (Counties Manukau)
Jack Stratton (Canterbury)
Bryn Gatland (North Harbour)
Jonathan Fa’auli (Taranaki)
Jonah Lowe (Hawke’s Bay)
Sevuloni Reece (Waikato)
Luteru Laulala (Counties Manukau)
Junior Ngaluafe (Southland)
The main talking point here is the selection of Bryn "Son of Warren" Gatland. This is clearly designed to make sure he gets at least one match (he is an outside chance with the Blues, probably on the bench). And why not?
It's a squad picked to ensure a good geographic spread (every top tier province is represented plus a few of the 2nd tier) but is fairly strong in the circumstances with 13 former NZ Schools, NZ U20 or Maori All Blacks reps. There's half a dozen or so with Super Rugby experience. I don't know if there were any formal qualification criteria for selection.
It's not clear why they've taken a piecemeal approach to naming the team. The balance will not be named for another 6 weeks. I would guess it has something to with availabality for the Super Rugby sides, plus the need to get the non-Super guys into training camp.
Forwards:
Aiden Ross (Bay of Plenty)
Tolu Fahamokioa (Wellington)
Sam Anderson-Heather (Otago)
Epalahame Faiva (Waikato)
Marcel Renata (Auckland)
Quinten Strange (Tasman)
Joshua Goodhue (Northland)
Heiden Bedwell-Curtis (Manawatu)
Mitchell Brown (Taranaki)
Matthew Matich (Northland)
Peter Rowe (Wanganui)
Backs:
Jonathan Taumateine (Counties Manukau)
Jack Stratton (Canterbury)
Bryn Gatland (North Harbour)
Jonathan Fa’auli (Taranaki)
Jonah Lowe (Hawke’s Bay)
Sevuloni Reece (Waikato)
Luteru Laulala (Counties Manukau)
Junior Ngaluafe (Southland)
The main talking point here is the selection of Bryn "Son of Warren" Gatland. This is clearly designed to make sure he gets at least one match (he is an outside chance with the Blues, probably on the bench). And why not?
It's a squad picked to ensure a good geographic spread (every top tier province is represented plus a few of the 2nd tier) but is fairly strong in the circumstances with 13 former NZ Schools, NZ U20 or Maori All Blacks reps. There's half a dozen or so with Super Rugby experience. I don't know if there were any formal qualification criteria for selection.
It's not clear why they've taken a piecemeal approach to naming the team. The balance will not be named for another 6 weeks. I would guess it has something to with availabality for the Super Rugby sides, plus the need to get the non-Super guys into training camp.