Sav's Sidelines: Sydney club’s Star injection
Sav's Sidelines - the weekly column that looks at Southland sport, from the grassroots to the professional ranks.
This week’s Sav’s Sidelines column delves into a top-flight Sydney rugby club that now has a significant Southland connection attached to it. It looks at New Zealand U20s rugby squad announcement, as well as the debate around the question of whether Ethan de Groot was rested or dropped.
Sydney club’s Star injection…
While Star was suffering its third straight loss to start the 2025 Southland premier club rugby season on Saturday, four players from its triumphant 2024 Galbraith Shield-winning lineup were playing key roles for a new club in Sydney.
Brothers Jayden and Nick Henderson, outside back Cole Spinks, and halfback Lachie Albert started for Star in their Galbraith Shield final victory against Pirates-Old Boys last year.
On Saturday all four started for Eastwood in Sydney’s premier club rugby competition, the Shute Shield.
Nick Henderson, who played for Southland B last year, captained Eastwood in his debut Shute Shield outing on Saturday.
Eastwood beat Randwick 39-36 with Albert and Spinks both dotting down for tries. Spinks - another 2024 Southland B player - also kicked four conversions and two penalties in a 19-point haul.
The rested or dropped question…
When Southland and All Black prop Ethan de Groot wasn’t included in the Highlanders 23 for their game against the Brumbies in Canberra last week, I posted an article that included the headline “Dropped or rested?”
I had my doubts about the whole rested theme.
One commentor wrote; “rested you donut”.
To be fair, he got that donut bit right; I can’t argue with that assessment of me. The rested bit through? I’m still willing to put up an argument for asking whether de Groot was actually “rested”.
Another wrote; “He’s been rested, listen to the coach”.
Now, this might not be a good thing to admit, but when you’ve been in the journalism game for a while you learn to be a little bit cynical.
Coaches can - like politicians - do a brilliant job of dancing around a question if they want to.
That’s not me accusing Highlanders’ coach Jamie Joseph of lying when he stated: “For me, a part of my job is to ensure our players are playing to their potential and their best footy and he has got a massive year ahead of him, being our only All Black,” Joseph said.
“So, I’m mindful of that and I’m mindful that we have only played five games of footy, so he gets a rest this week and hopefully he will come back into consideration the following week.”
I just think he said what he had to without throwing his only All Black under the bus publicly.
For what it’s worth, I still believe de Groot was dropped for that game against the Brumbies.
However, on reflection, arguing over the words “dropped” and “rested” is probably arguing semantics. Both words could probably describe the situation.
de Groot hadn’t been at his best through the Highlanders’ first five outings and Joseph obviously felt the best option for de Groot was to spend some time on the sideline.
Whether he would have come back into the starting lineup for Saturday night’s game against the Force if Daniel Lienert-Brown was available, we won’t know.
But de Groot did get to play, and he got through 53 minutes playing a key role in a much-approved scrum. Or at least the referee this week spun the Highlanders’ name more times on the scrum penalty chocolate wheel than had been the case during previous two weeks.
Despite this week finding themselves on the better side of the referee at scrum time the Highlanders still chalked up a third straight loss to Australian teams losing 29-20 to the Force in Perth on Saturday night.
And disappointingly Southland’s Sean Withy found himself with a red card after he collected a Force player with his knee when he slid to try to stop a Force try.
Southland’s NZ U20s recognition…
Two Southland players have been named in the New Zealand U20s rugby squad, and another has been placed on standby in a piece of encouraging news for Southland’s pathways programme.
Hooker Shaun Kempton and midfielder Tayne Harvey have been named in the New Zealand squad which will attend the U20s Rugby Championship tournament in South Africa.
Meanwhile, 18-year-old first five-eighth Mika Muliaina has been placed on standby and will join the squad in camp before they head to South Africa.
The squad leaves on April 18 and will return on May 14.
Kempton completed his schooling in Christchurch in 2023, while Harvey finished that year at Palmerston North Boys’ High School.
Both decided to link with Rugby Southland’s academy system in 2024.
Muliaina is in his first year out of Southland Boys’ High School and is now knocking on the door of New Zealand U20 selection despite still having two more years in that age-group.
Following the Rugby Championship in South Africa a new New Zealand squad will be named for the U20 World Championship, to be held in Italy in June and July.
It could mean a massive 2025 workload for the youngsters, with Harvey, Kempton, and Muliaina also in line for a wee bit of game time for the Stags come the 2025 NPC season.
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Harvey and Kempton’s selection, along with Muliaina being placed on standby, is a plus for Southland rugby given the province didn’t have any representation in the 2024 New Zealand U20s setup.
“It’s exciting for them,” Rugby Southland pathways manager Scott Eade said of the selections.
“Tayne and Shaun decided to throw their lot in with us [in Southland] and for them to make the New Zealand group from there, hopefully, shows other guys there is an opportunity if you put in the work, have a great attitude, and front up week on week, you can make it.”
For Muliaina to be well and truly on the radar was also a good result, Eade said.
“It’s awesome for him considering he is under 18, he’s stoked. For Mika to be invited to the camp and go up to Wellington before they leave for South Africa is great.”
Southland’s last NZU20s representation came in 2023 when hooker Jack Taylor was named in the original squad and prop Hunter Fahey was called in as injury cover to head to the World Championship in South Africa.
The New Zealand U20s team is coached by former Southland halfback Milton Haig.
The 2025 New Zealand U20 squad is:
Hookers
Shaun Kempton, Highlanders/Southland
Manumaua Letiu, Crusaders/Canterbury
Eli Oudenryn, Crusaders/Tasman
Props
Tamiano Ahloo, Blues/Auckland
Robson Faleafa, Blues/Auckland
Dane Johnston, Chiefs/Taranaki
Riley Tofilau, Blues/North Harbour
Sika Pole, Blues/Auckland
Locks
Dylan Eti, Chiefs/Waikato
Joshua Tengblad, Highlanders/Otago
Randall Baker, Blues/Auckland
Loose Forwards
Mosese Bason, Hurricanes/Manawatū
Micah Fale, Chiefs/Waikato
Harry Irving, Hurricanes/Wellington
Aio Keith, Blues/Auckland
Xavier Treacy, Crusaders/Canterbury
Caleb Woodley, Blues/Auckland
Finn McLeod, Crusaders/Canterbury
Halfbacks
Dylan Pledger, Highlanders/Otago
Charlie Sinton, Chiefs/Bay of Plenty
Jai Tamati, Hurricanes/ Manawatū
First five-eighth
Will Cole, Hurricanes/Hawke’s Bay
Rico Simpson, Blues/Auckland
Midfielders
James Cameron, Crusaders/Canterbury
Tayne Harvey, Highlanders/Southland
Cooper Roberts, Crusaders/Tasman
Jack Wiseman, Chiefs/Taranaki
Outside backs
Maloni Kunawave, Crusaders/Tasman
Taniela Maisiri, Chiefs/Bay of Plenty
Harlyn Saunoa, Blues/Auckland
Stanley Solomon, Hurricanes/Wellington
Unavailable due to injury
Logan Wallace, Aisake Vakasiuola, Jayden Sa.
Unavailable due to All Blacks Sevens duties
Oli Mathis, Joey Taumateine, Xavier Tito-Harris, Frank Vaenuku.
