All Time Crusaders 1st XV Team

One thing to remember with me doing these is that these are based on the players I have seen and liked through out the years I have done High School Top 200, this not about who got selected for whatever Rep teams this is just me doing “mine”. The UC Cup is a very stacked comp with so much talent every single year and it creates a lot of smart players as well with very high rugby IQ’s. This Comp spanning a lot of the South Island has a very good catchment of players and a lot of it coming from the Tasman area which I think is a very underrated place when we talk top places to find talent Tasman is never really mentioned. This is my High School Top 200 All Time Crusaders Team.

My starting front row were all players from the first year I started and they were all real beast while in the 1st XV. Tom Hill and Atu Moli would be 2 of the biggest and most solid Props that have been on Top 200. When they were in school both players were so strong that to me they really didn’t have great technique at scrum time but were way stronger then everyone else,  that they would win with just pure power over who ever was on the other side of them. Atu a very strong ball runner and would make meters every time he touched the ball and could run out in the open as well. Tom a more close to the ruck Prop but would get through a lot of tough work. Harrison Allen was a player I really liked to watch because he was a hard worker and because he was very fit and strong would keep that same energy the whole game. Eden Beech was not a very known player but played well above his schools reputation and became a U18 Crusader which is not something that happens a lot when you come from such a small school. Steven Misa was a player I thought was ripped off and should have been in that NZSS in 2013 and it was because he was the player that did everything for the forwards. He was a very strong ball carrier, made tackles, scrum game was strong and could throw as well. I remember seeing the NZSS team and thinking “What are they doing? He was a very big player to miss out on”. Another is Adam Reid from last year, really his game had nothing to do with him missing out on Rep selections, it was more on his height but if you have ever stood next to Kevin Mealamu before you would know height doesn’t have a lot to do with talent and getting the job done and that was Adam. The St Kents game last year convinced me on his worth because he got 3 turnovers in the first half and they couldn’t get him off the ball. The 1st half score was close before going off in the second half and the score went for a run, but i hold his effect on the field to a real high standard.

The Locks in this Region haven’t been the best and I feel from the last 5 years they only have a few stand outs but they are some of the best that you will find. Quin Strange was another one of those players that I didn’t pick up on early and it wasn’t till his Year 13 year I finally saw it. Because Quin has a very good motor on him and is very quick around the field, he really can offer you a lot in terms of any system you want to play. He is very very sharp in the line outs and gets off the ground quickly, doesn’t mess up his footing or anything like that so you will always get a clean line out. His work around the rucks is also strong and leg drives players off the ball. Cullen has had a real good 1st XV career and it really paid off being part of the NZSS team as well. He can cover Lock and Blind but for this I put him in at Lock. Cullen is a do it all player with a wide range of skills and plays at pace as well which is why he is a very good Blind Side. A player that is so well rounded like him seems to go pretty far so I’ll be interested to see how far he actually goes in the future. Will Tucker I thought was a year early but he was a really good Lock in 1st XV Rugby. He was a tall player with a wide range of skills and for a guy that didn’t have a lot of meat to him, he was tough in the rucks and really got stuck into the clean out work. Now for my loose forwards I pretty much picked 4 players that were all similar players in size, style and skill set. Cam, Tom, Charlie and Glen are all players that “Ball Hawk” all day and they all hunt for the tackle and turnover every time they take the field. I have seen them all play on film and they have all done pretty much the same work where they would make a whole bunch of tackles and then turn the ball over like 4 times in a half. Tom has that real pace to get out there in the open and shut down 1st 5/8’s and really hurry the play. Cam and Charlie get real physical when they make contact and they really just try over power the runners which is cool to watch. Glen has a real impressive run game that is really not spoken of to much and he can fly around the park with the best of them too which made him the No.1 asset when he was at school.

As we come to the back line and as I went through all the players that I thought should be considered, there was just a massive collection of players that I had down. I realized how many backs in the country and who are high Rep honor players are selected out of the UC Cup. For the Half Backs I went for Corey Taylor and Harry Peters as the best I have seen in the UC Cup. Corey I thought was a brilliant player because he really ran the ship when he played and got things moving. I kind of thought that Corey should have been NZSS that year or at least a real shot at it. Harry Peters had himself a good year and was paid for it by making the NZSS that year. He played with a lot of speed and had good timing when on the move.  There were actually 3 players that I could decide on because I thought that all 3 have been so strong and were all very worthy of that spot. Josh McKay, Damien McKenzie and Mitchell Hunt were just all class 1st 5/8’s. One things that stood out to me was that they were all short players but that never stopped them from crushing teams around them. Damien had that game against Otago BHS where he almost beat them on his own. Josh was the never say die player even when he was in the NZSS team. The Nelson College program was on the shoulders of Mitchell Hunt for a few years and he took them further then they should have gotten. I have to say that the UC Cup does have some of the best 1st 5/8 to come out of High School Top 200.

I dont know how you can go past Alex Nankivell, with everything he brings to a team and how much value he adds to your back line. A very talented player that makes little mistake and also plays the game with purpose of making the team better. Alex can play the crash and bash game because of how big and solid he is and with his explosiveness can break tackles and the line. However he is not just a one trick pony kind of dude, he also has a short kicking game that he used and got his team out of some real pressure. Alex another player that should have been NZSS but that’s their fault. Ngane Punivai a very smart, physical, play making and quick player. He has really carried on the what Damien created and now they have gone back to a force in the UC Cup like they should be. Ngane created a lot of problems because of his style of play and his strength and power no one was able to really put him down or lock him out of a game. He had very strong defence and was able to really out muscle other opponents to get the upper hand.  I had to go with the two brothers when picking the wing positions because they were just far better then everyone else and so hard to put down. Leicester and Tima were always a step ahead and they just couldnt be stopped, they were to big, to strong, to explosive, to smart and in shape as well. Will Jordan was a run away machine and he scored a bunch of tries through out the year and I think it was cause he knew timing and game flow. Will was not a big player, actually was real skinny and was the main reason he didnt get NZSS but skills hes was right there with the best.

1.    Tom Hill (Nelson College)
2.    Steven Misa (Christchurch Boys)
3.    Atu Moli (Marlborough Boys)
4.    Quin Strange (Nelson College)
5.    Cullen Grace (Timaru BHS)
6.    Cam Russell (Burnside HS)
7.    Tom Christie (Shirley BHS) (VC)
8.    Charlie Gamble (St Bedes College)
9.    Cory Taylor (Shirley BHS)
10.  Damien McKenzie (Christs College) (C)
11.  Leicester Faingaanuku (Nelson College)
12.   Alex Nankivell (Christchurch Boys)
13.  Ngane Punivai (Christ College)
14.  Tima Faingaanuku (Nelson College)
15.  Josh McKay (Christchurch BHS)

16.  Harrison Allan (St Andrews College)
17.  Eden Beech (Motueka HS)
18.  Adam Reid (Christchurch BHS)
19.  Will Tucker (St Bedes College)
20.  Glen Beardsley (Shirley BHS)
21.  Harry Peters (Christ College)
22.  Mitchell Hunt (Nelson College)
23.  Will Jordan Fullback (Christchurch BHS)