Sav's Sidelines: How and why did the Stags end up with an All Black wing?
Sav's Sidelines - the weekly column that looks at all things Southland rugby, from the grassroots to the professional game.
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There’s plenty in this week’s Sav’s Sidelines, including a look at how the signing of All Black wing Sevu Reece played out for Southland.
Savory ponders if Jamie Mackintosh will one-day reconnect with Rugby Southland after the messy 2016 exit, and he also confirms a key Stags signing signalled in this column a few weeks back.
This week’s column points to Jack Taylor’s attempt to play club rugby, highlights Southland Boy’s impressive Moascar Cup retention, looks at the Stags’ preseason schedule, and revisits a 1993 game at Rugby Park.
‘Why wouldn’t you?’…
So, it appears the Sevu Reece, Southland Stags signing has been in the pipeline for some time now. Rugby Southland confirmed the news on Thursday.
Rugby Southland director of rugby Matt Saunders had been approached by Reece’s manager a while back.
He’d previously been aligned to Tasman, but they had parted ways with the All Black wing. Reece had played just the six games in four years for Tasman.
There was a connection to Southland with Reece’s partner hailing from Southland.
Reece is also friends with members of Southland’s Fijian community, including Pirates-Old Boys midfielder Napo Seru.
Southland appeared to be a good fit.
Now given Reece is expected to be included in the All Blacks squad named on Monday, and more than likely probably won’t be seen in a Stags jersey, many have questioned why Stags would bother.
But here’s where Saunders and others at Rugby Southland see an opportunity that has little to no downside attached.
When an All Black is unavailable for their province New Zealand Rugby provides 100% reimbursement to that player’s province. That will be the case with Reece and will continue to be the scenario with prop Ethan de Groot.
But as part of the signing, Reece has agreed, when he’s on an All Black break and where it is possible, to spend some time in Southland.
One, maybe two visits this year, might be the case.
Saunders and co feel there’s some upside for Southland rugby to that, with little to no cost.
“He is probably not going to play a game for us, he was the form winger and he should be one of the starting All Black wingers,” Saunders acknowledged.
“We understand that, but hopefully when he does get a weekend off, he can get down here and train with the lads for a day or two, share his knowledge, and run the water [on gameday].
“And also, just get him meeting people… It’s probably one visit, maybe two.
“Even better if he did get to play a game, how great would that be? But it is not why it was done, it was an opportunity to align with an All Black, that you don’t turn down. ”
“Why wouldn’t you sign an All Black to align with your province that you don’t have to pay for? He reached out to us, and it was a no brainer really.
“We had to make sure everyone was aligned that it wasn’t a Stags signing it was a community signing. It’s a community engagement signing more than anything. Anything Stags wise is a real bonus.”
On top of that Saunders, feels at the very least it could help Southland rugby build more connections.
“Not many All Blacks, or a high-quality players are approaching us to come here, it’s the reality.
“You don’t know what that leads to, you don’t know who he is mates with. When you form connections with people you don’t know what that can lead to,” Saunders said.
Financially Saunders acknowledged that while it won’t likely cost Rugby Southland anything, they did need to have the contingency in place for the unlikely prospect that Reece did become available to play for the Stags and they had to cover his provincial contract.
“If he happened to play two or three games, no issue.”
Where the bean-counters might work up a sweet is if Reece and de Groot both, for whatever strange reason, become available for the entire NPC season with the Stags and those costs would need to be covered.
Will Mackintosh one-day reconnect with Rugby Southland?
It was one of the messier Southland rugby exits, and the wounds probably haven’t fully healed just yet.
In 2016 rookie Stags coach Hoani Macdonald left Jamie Mackintosh out of the Stags squad that year.
It didn’t sit all that well with Mackintosh. It brought an abrupt end to a Southland rugby career which started in 2004 and included two-Ranfurly Shield wins.
The Stags captain never added to his 110 Stags caps after his 2016 axing.
Mackintosh is now a promising coach which has included taking on the Hurricanes forwards coach job.
He has also spent some time as part of the Otago NPC coaching setup.
Not surprisingly Rugby Southland had been keen to investigate getting Mackintosh back in the Stags setup in some sort of coaching capacity.
Although Mackintosh has taken a step back from the NPC this season, and even if he was involved in the NPC it appears he still has pretty strong ties with Otago.
“It’s a really hard one for me. I’m still really loyal to the group that is in Otago at the moment. I feel a really strong connection to the guys I coached, your Henry Bells, and Will Tuckers, just guys that I created a connection with.
“So, it’s sad that I’m not going to be back with them getting to work with Sass [Tom Donnelly] again [at Otago.
“At the same time, I’ve always said to Panel [Matt Saunders] there is also something inside of me that has always thought I would like to contribute to Rugby Southland potentially at some stage.
“You just don’t know where life will take you, sometimes you’ll end up France, sometimes you’ll end up in Austin, Texas, sometimes you’ll end up coaching the Hurricanes.
“It would be remiss to say [Southland] has not been part of my thinking, but at this stage I’m really settled and hopefully in the next wee while I’ll prolong what I am doing with the Hurricanes and do something pretty special up there.”
Jack Taylor’s club quest…
They tell me Highlanders hooker Jack Taylor showed an eagerness to finish the club season off with the Eastern-Northern Barbarians this year.
Taylor is a Gore lad playing his junior footy for the Albion Rugby Club in Gore where the Barbarians are based.
It would have made for a nice occasion running out onto the Gore Showgrounds at the grassroots level.
Although it appears the young hooker has been told to keep his powder dry, so to speak, and take a break before the NPC season.
Taylor is almost certain to be the Stags frontline hooker in 2024 and will probably carry a big workload.
It should be pointed out Taylor was spotted on Saturday running the water for his former SBHS first XV team which his younger brother Jimmy now plays for.
Moascar Cup has a home in Southland…
Southland Boys’ High School have done a fine job defending the Moascar Cup which is described as the Ranfurly Shield of New Zealand school boy rugby.
Southland Boys’ had already fended off challenges from Kings (Dunedin), Wakatipu High School, and John McGlashan College, all in the space of seven days.
On Saturday they took on Otago Boys’ High School at the Les George Oval in Southland Boys’ fourth Moascar Cup defence.
Otago Boys’ opened the scoring after just three minutes through a penalty before Southland Boys’ took charge with tries to flanker Jared Reid and second five eighth Jimmy Taylor to lead 12-3 at halftime.
Wing Caleb Harvey dotted down early in the second half to push it out to 19-3.
Otago Boys’ High School did go on to score four second half tries but managed to convert just one of them.
On the flipside Southland Boys’ first five-eighth Mika Muliaina landed two penalties to hold on to a 30-25 victory.
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Signing confirmation…
In the May 5 Sav’s Sidelines column we suggested Highlanders lock Mitchell Dunshea was a good chance to link with the Southland Stags for the 2024 NPC season.
On Saturday evening the Stags confirmed we weren’t making up things. They announced Dunshea’s signing in what will be a boost for the Stags around adding some experience to the pack.
Dunshea, 28, played 38 times for the Crusaders before this year joining the Highlanders.
To date, the former New Zealand U20 representative has played for Canterbury throughout his provincial career since debuting in 2015.
He’ll join the likes of Josh Bekhuis and Shneil Singh as other looks already confirmed to be returning.
Barbarians lock Woody Kirkwood is another in the mix.
Stags’ preseason outings…
New Zealand Rugby’s move to schedule the Southland-Otago ‘Stag Day’ fixture in week one of the 2024 NPC season threw up a bit of a dilemma for both the Southland and Otago management.
The two provinces traditionally have played each other the week before the NPC as a final preseason hit out.
That wasn’t all that attractive this year given they would have played each other in a competition opener seven days later.
Southland and Otago will now square-off at the Pioneer Rugby Club in Gore on Friday, July 26.
The following Friday Southland will travel to Christchurch to play Tasman for its final preseason hit out.
“We talked to Otago and all agreed we can’t play Otago the week before [the NPC], we would all be paranoid to show anything so would be behind the eight-ball,” Rugby Southland director of rugby Matt Saunders said.
“We’ll do it two weeks out and have a good blowout.”
Otago’s final preseason fixture will be against Canterbury.
The Stags squad will assemble on July 15, the Monday after the Galbraith Shield final.
Blast from the past…
August 7, 1993. It was one of the more momentous occasions to play out at Rugby Park in Invercargill when Southland and Otago clashed for the 200th time in a first-class fixture.
Some of Southland and Otago’s more recognisable rugby names took to the field that day - Simon Culhane and Paul Henderson for Southland, and the likes of John Timu, Josh Kronfield, and Taine Randell for Otago.
A couple of fresh-faced players were included on the bench - Justin Marshall for Southland and Jeff Wilson for Otago.
For the record Otago won that 1993 game 40-15.
The rivalry is still well and truly alive today with the next showdown between the two provinces at Rugby Park in Invercargill on August 10.
See you at Stag Day!