Sav's Sidelines: A big year covering Southland rugby
Sav's Sidelines - the weekly column that looks at all things Southland rugby, from the grassroots to the professional game.
The impressive group of young looseforwards in Southland continues to grow, and in this week’s Sav’s Sidelines column I highlight just that.
This week’s column also takes a somewhat self-indulgent look at the year of Southland rugby and how extensive The Tribune’s coverage has been from grassroots to the Stags.
A big year covering Southland rugby…
It’s been another big year for Southland rugby from the grassroots to professional ranks. With the risk of coming across as self-indulgent, The Tribune has been there every step of the way.
We covered the club milestones, including Blues and Riverton turning 150, as well as the special moments which included the day father and son combo Jason and Gregor Rutledge played a premier club game together for Woodlands.
That same day Hurricanes forwards coach Jamie Mackintosh made a cameo appearance for Woodlands and The Tribune shone a light on that in the lead up.
We highlighted James Wilson’s comeback for his beloved Blues club and chatted to Thomas Jennings when he was named in the New Zealand Secondary Schools team.
The Tribune paid tribute to Southland rugby legend Kevin Laidlaw when he died this year, provided some scoops for you Stags fans in the lead up to the Sevu Reece and Mitch Dunshea signings.
Through The Roar Podcast we delivered some in depth yarns with Southland rugby personalities, including the likes of Olympic champion Alena Saili and All Blacks physio Karl McDonald.
We are confident The Tribune delivered the most extensive coverage of club rugby you will find anywhere. It culminated with Star managing a unique double, winning both the men’s and women’s premier club finals on the same day.
Then came the NPC season, and again The Tribune delivered you with plenty of Stags content from game analysis to the feel-good stories.
It included the debutants to the other end of the spectrum when Josh Bekhuis became Southland rugby’s most capped player.
We covered the remarkable wins over Otago - Northland - and North Harbour and the unexpected star in Felatoi Peni who went from four-week trial to key game breaker.
To be fair I’ve only scratched the surface here in the over 100 rugby yarns produced by The Tribune in 2024. Again, this feels a bit self-indulgent writing this but it’s worth highlighting.
I’m unsure if The Tribune will or won’t be back covering another Stags season in 2025. Time will tell if that will happen.
I do want to say a big thank you to the key figure of The Tribune’s rugby coverage - Debbie Fahey.
Debbie is an impressive rugby photographer with a great eye for the game. Pretty much every rugby photo you have viewed in The Tribune this year has been taken by Debbie.
Southland rugby is lucky to have Debbie capturing all of the special moments from grassroots to the Stags.
The real hero of our coverage is of course the readers - in particular those who have deemed our work worthy of backing and have opted to sign up as paid supporters of The Southland Tribune.
I’ve never taken that for granted. If you do want The Tribune to continue our rugby coverage into 2025, please also consider becoming a paid supporter.
While our rugby coverage will ease somewhat in the coming months, we do know people love to be across what’s looming at whatever time of the year that might be, so we will keep tabs on it.
An ever-growing list of promising looseforwards…
Jayden Broome’s performance when helping New Zealand Māori U18 upset New Zealand Schools on Thursday prompted me to take a moment to realise Southland has something exciting brewing with its list of promising looseforwards.
To highlight it I’ve listed a group of looseforwards who are 23 or under and have already played for the Stags or are on the path to do so.
Sean Withy (23)
There’s not a lot of introduction needed here. Withy is already a Super Rugby quality player, he’s the Stags captain, and has just been named the Stag of the Year for 2024.
It’s hard to fathom he is still on 23. He has plenty of rugby ahead of him and a lot of it hopefully in a maroon jersey.
Leroy Ferguson (23)
Ferguson made the shift to Southland from Otago last year for an opportunity. The openside flanker made an immediate impact at club level with the Eastern-Northern Barbarians and in his rookie NPC season with the Stags.
Injury hindered his start to the 2024 NPC season and the depth in the looseforward ranks also had him battling for game time late in the campaign.
At 23 Ferguson also has plenty of rugby ahead of him.
Blair Ryall (22)
Ryall made an unexpected and sudden shift from Canterbury to Southland midway through the 2022 NPC season when then Stags coach Dale MacLeod drafted him in as injury cover.
He was green and probably a bit undersized at the time, but showed he was an asset at the NPC level. He has since bulked up and developed into one of the Stags’ best which included being named the Stag of the Year in 2023.
Again at 22 he is still a player on the rise.
Hayden Michaels (21)
The 21-year-old former Gore High School pupil progressed through the Southland age-group ranks and in 2021 got a taste in the Stags setup making his NPC debut.
In 2022 he played for New Zealand U20 after playing for the Highlanders U20s.
He has since been contracted by the Highlanders. While injury hindered his 2024 NPC campaign a bulked-up Michaels did provide a glimpse of his strength at the breakdown.
At 21 it feels like his best in a Stags jersey is still yet to come.
Semisi Tupou Ta’eiloa (20)
The Stags signed the former New Zealand Under-19 and Highlanders Under-20 No 8 on a four-year deal starting with the 2023 NPC season.
Tupou Ta’eiloa is a former Otago Boys’ High School player who was contracted with Otago on a development contract.
Rugby Southland looked like they were going to secure his services on a three-year contract starting from 2024.
However, Otago eventually agreed to release the No 8 to join Southland for the 2023 season which stretched it to a four-year contract.
He has quickly developed into one of Southland rugby’s key assets. He played in nine Stags games in 2024 - eight on them from the bench.
By the end of the 2024 NPC Tupou Ta’eiloa had become Southland’s first choice No 8 and had Stags coach Matt Saunders calling for a Super Rugby team to snap him up.
And again, he’s only 20-years-old.
Justin Shaw (19)
Shaw made a name for himself in 2023 when the No 8 played a lead role in helping Southland Boys’ High School win its first national schools rugby title.
Shaw stepped into the senior rugby ranks with Woodlands this year before the representative season with the Southland U19 team.
He was one of the Southland U19s best this year and has a few around Southland HQ excited with what might be able to deliver in the future for Southland rugby.
Shaw played for the Highlanders U20s this year and is available to head back for another go in 2025.
2025 shapes as a big year for Shaw.
Gregor Rutledge (18)
Rutledge obviously stems from Southland rugby royalty given his grandfather Leicester and dad Jason both played over 100 games for Southland.
Rutledge is on the path to also pull on the maroon jersey.
He had a strong campaign with the Highlanders U20s this year which is remarkable given Gregor is still eligible to play in the U20 ranks for a further two years.
He too was a key figure in the Southland U19 team this season.
Jayden Broome (18)
Broome has long been on the Southland rugby radar, more recently under the watch of Rugby Southland academy manager Scott Eade.
His big moment came over the past week when he first captained the New Zealand Māori U18 team against a NZ Heartland U20s team and then played a lead role in the No 7 jersey in an upset win over the New Zealand Schools team.
Broome isn’t the biggest No 7 going around but competes hard and has an impressive workrate.
He will head to Dunedin to study in 2025 but is keen to remain aligned with Southland rugby and is likely to be a key figure in the Southland U19 team.
Excellent coverage of grassroots rugby in the South, particularly the Stags who we all love, fingers crossed you will be back next year and beyond
I think the real hero of the coverage is you Logan. As someone who lives out of the province your Tribune offers high quality news coverage. With $100 as an annual fee it's an incredibly priced subscription.
Richard Duffy