HKRU WELCOMES UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO CHIEFS TAUA DEVELOPMENT TEAM

Chiefs Development Squad Tour marks return to Hong Kong for New Zealand Sevens players Isaac Te Temaki and Bailey Simonsson

19th Apr 2018

Bailey Simonsson v Kenya at the 2018 HK7s

The Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU) is pleased to welcome the University of Waikato Chiefs Taua Development team to Hong Kong for another exciting tour under the high performance partnership formed between the Chiefs Rugby Club and the Union in 2015. The promising partnership was extended in 2017 for a further three years.

The visit is once again timely as Hong Kong prepares for a crucial Asia Rugby Championship campaign that will see them play a home-and-away series with South Korea and Malaysia in May and June to determine the sole Asian entry into the Rugby World Cup 2019 repechage process this summer.

2018 marks the fourth incoming tour by the Chiefs Development team to Hong Kong and sees the return of two players who made their Hong Kong Sevens debuts for New Zealand earlier this month in outside backs Isaac Te Tamaki and Bailey Simonsson. Both featured in a strong performance for a young New Zealand side that made a cup semi-final run at the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.

The tour once again includes joint training sessions with the Hong Kong national squad as well as a match against a Hong Kong national XV on Saturday 21 April at the Hong Kong Football Club. The Chiefs Development players will also participate in HKRU community engagement coaching events for players from the HKRU’s Youth and Mini Rugby programmes during their stay.

Chiefs High Performance Manager Chris Tindall said: “It is exciting to again return to Hong Kong with a University of Waikato Chiefs Development team to further our rugby development and performance together with the Hong Kong Rugby Union.

“The tour is a special opportunity for our players’ learning and development to experience international touring and full-time preparation on and off the field as a team to train with and play against the Hong Kong national squad. It provides a real opportunity for the players to impress on and off the field for Chiefs selection, as players have done from the tours over the last three years.”

Previous University of Waikato Chiefs Taua Development players who have progressed from the Hong Kong tours to play for the Gallagher Chiefs are: Shaun Stevenson, Atu Moli, Liam Polwart, Mitchell Brown, Sefo Kautai, Aidan Ross, Samisoni Taukei’aho and Luteru Laulala.

“We also have a partnership and tour focus to further assist the national squad and coaches in their preparation for the Asia Rugby Championship and Rugby World Cup qualification matches this year which is an exciting performance goal for Hong Kong Rugby,” added Tindall.

“We are delighted to welcome the Chiefs Development squad back on shore for their fourth tour running. The partnership was extended pre-Christmas and entering the second term I think both the Union and the Chiefs are starting to see real progress,” said Dai Rees, Chief Rugby Operations Officer at the HKRU.

“The first few years we focused a lot on developing and extending our systems with the Chiefs around player tracking and monitoring as well as strength and conditioning and game analysis. Now that the programme has been extended and our working practices are closely aligned, we are embedded and working together very well as a group,” Rees added.

Rees pointed to recent stints with the Chiefs in New Zealand by Callum McFeat-Smith and Henry Poon who spent five weeks with the Chiefs training in a full-time professional environment.

“They benefited from some excellent coaching from current and former All Blacks with the Chiefs and we are reviewing how they went with the Chiefs Development coaching team. This type of player exchange will be a feature of the partnership going forward.

“The Chiefs have benefited as well, with I think seven or eight of the players who have come here on the development tours signing senior contracts with the Chiefs. With the systems in place I think both parties will make even more gains going forward,” Rees added.

“High Chief” Liam Messam, capped 167 times for the club and with numerous appearances for New Zealand in the Hong Kong Sevens and the Bledisloe Cup hosted here in 2008, commented on the partnership saying:

“There’s a real passion for rugby in Hong Kong. The kids are really keen to get stuck in. That passion and enthusiasm is a foundation for playing the game at any level. When we work with the HKRU, we can share our skills and knowledge and hopefully help grow the game here.

“I think we can bring our different skill sets. Attitude and intensity are a feature of our game and if this interaction with that different rugby experience can help players develop here then that is all to the good.

“The partnership helps the game grow. It also helps us develop our youngsters, and helps us grow as a club and spread New Zealand rugby.

“Our younger guys get the experience of playing here, in a whole other rugby environment, in a new country and that’s a really valuable thing. It’s a whole new experience that helps them develop as players and as people,” added Messam.

The Tour also presents an opportunity for a player who has been in action in Hong Kong for a while now in Bloomberg HK Scottish flanker Josh Dowsing, who came to Hong Kong with the Chiefs Development squad in 2016 and soon signed up for Scottish and the HKRU’s Elite Rugby Programme.

Dowsing, who still has a season remaining before he is eligible to play for Hong Kong and is not a part of the Asia Rugby Championship squad, is expected to play with the Chiefs Development squad as an injury replacement on Saturday against Hong Kong.

The University of Waikato Chiefs Development touring squad of 27 players is selected from available players in co-ordination with the Chiefs region Provincial Unions Counties Manukau, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Taranaki.

The squad includes a mix of developing and experienced players led by 2017 Chiefs players James Tucker – just returned from playing a season in Italy – and hooker Seb Siataga. Tucker, a former New Zealand Under 20 representative, will captain the team.

Five players return to Hong Kong from the touring squad last year: props Ayden Johnstone and Joshua Iosefo-Scott, loose forward Ajay Lafaele-Mua, halfback Luke Campbell and midfielder Matthew Lansdown.

The squad also includes five 2017 New Zealand Schools representative players: props Ollie Norris and George Dyer, lock Tupou Vaa’i, midfielder Quinn Tupaea and wing Kini Naholo.

The touring squad also includes three players from the Kobelco Steelers club in Japan who have been training with the Chiefs under the High Performance partnership between Chiefs and the Kobelco Steelers: prop Takayuki Watanabe, hooker Kosuke Nishibayashi and 1st five-eighth Akihiro Shimizu.

The University of Waikato Chiefs Development squad will be coached by Paul Hodder as Head Coach with past Chiefs player Nathan White and current Chiefs player Tim Nanai-Williams as Assistant Coaches.

Isaac Te Tamaki takes on the Kenya defence

The University of Waikato Chiefs Taua Development touring squad to Hong Kong:

Forwards: Ayden Johnstone (Waikato), Ollie Norris (Waikato) Joshua Iosefo-Scott, Takayuki Watanabe, George Dyer, Donald Maka , Seb Siataga, Kosuke Nishibayashi, James Tucker (captain), Sam Caird, Tupou Vaa’i, Stan Van der Hoven, Fotu Lokotui, Joe Johnson, Ajay Lafaele-Mua. Backs: Luke Campbell, Isaac Te Aute, Daniel Waite, Akihiro Shimizu, Matthew Landsown, Quinn Tupaea, Nigel Ah Wong, Sam Furniss, Isaac Te Tamaki, Mosese Dawai, Kini Naholo, Bailey Simonsson.

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