Sav's Sidelines: Son of Silver Ferns assistant coach links with Southland rugby
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 has a bit of a rugby focus which includes looking at Rugby Southland’s opportunity for a redemption story 27 years on, the Southland rugby connection to a Silver Ferns coach, plus more.
Son of Silver Ferns assistant coach links with Southland rugby…
Silver Ferns assistant coach Deb Fuller’s son has joined Rugby Southland’s academy programme in attempt to push his rugby prospects.
Luca Fuller was this week named as a Year 2 addition in the 2025 academy programme.
He’s an outside back who played his high school rugby for Kings College in Auckland before linking with his home province Bay of Plenty last year to be part of their academy.
However, he has this year made the shift to study in Dunedin and has opted to align with Southland, in terms of his provincial rugby ties.
Fuller has a background playing sevens which included representing the New Zealand Under-18 team.
“He’s keen and driven. He’s keen to come down and given it a real shake. He’s in the Highlanders Under-20s group,” Eade said.
“He’s a wing/fullback who has got a bit of pace. It’s a position we haven’t got a huge amount of depth.”
Rugby Southland has also attracted a few other new names from outside the region this year to join the academy mix.
Included is lock Lachlan Stevens who attended Tauranga Boys’ High School before shifting to Dunedin to study last year.
Stevens played for the Southland U19 team last year and has now stepped into the Southland academy programme.
His family actually farmed in Southland before moving north.
“He has got a Southland connection, so you obviously sniff those things out. He’s a lock and a great kid. He’s intelligent, good lineout caller, and got good skills and mobility.
“Lock is always an area where you are always on the look.”
Last year Eade also come across midfield/fullback Sam Mutschin who played for St Andrew’s College and was part of the Crusaders U18 team for two years.
Mustchin has now also made the shift to study in Dunedin but has chosen to link with Southland rugby’s academy.
“The potential is there, so hopefully he can come down and give it a good shake. He can play midfield/fullback and is a good kicker of the ball.
“He is a big taller guy and the skillset is there. So, we’ll see how he goes,” Eade said.
Halfback Jackson Hughan, who last year played for Otago Boys’ High School, is another new name in the Rugby Southland academy mix.
Hughan has made the shift to Invercargill this year and will play for Star in Southland’s premier club rugby competition.
“He’s come down for an opportunity,” Eade said.
“He’s a real competitor, great work ethic, great attitude. He’s quite a combative type nine. I don’t like to compare people with people but he’s probably in the mould of guys who played pretty well for the Stags in that position.”
2025 RUGBY SOUTHLAND ACADEMY MEMBERS
Year 1: Mika Muliaina, Thomas Jennings, Jayden Broome, Jackson Hughan, Sam Mustchin, Lachlan Stevens.
Year 2: Tayne Harvey, Gregor Rutledge, Josh Augustine, Shaun Kempton, Justin Shaw, Luca Fuller, Louis Lepionka, JJ Fisher, Henry Scott.
The Muliaina that hasn't got away…
Roger Clark tells a story about the day he arrived in Invercargill in 1998 which highlighted Southland rugby’s challenges at the time.
The same day Clark moved in as Rugby Southland’s new chief executive a teenage Mils Muliaina was on a plane flying out of Invercargill bound for Auckland.
Muliaina had opted to take up a scholarship at Kelston Boys’ High School. He left Southland behind to continue his rugby career with Auckland.
A couple of days later Clark headed to Auckland in a forlorn attempt to persuade the schoolboy star that he should stick with Southland, in terms of his rugby.
Although Clark didn't have a lot to offer. Southland rugby at the time did not have a heap of appeal.
Reflecting 27 years on its hard to put up any sort of argument that Muliaina’s move wasn’t the correct one.
He went on to become an All Black great playing 100 test matches. Southlanders watched on with pride, given Muliana’s connection to the province.
But mixed in with that pride was a sense of disappointment that such a special Southland talent never wore the Stags jersey.
Close to three decades on Rugby Southland has been offered up a sort of redemption opportunity.
Muliaina’s nephew Mika, like Uncle Mils, has emerged as a schoolboy star in the past couple of years.
The classy and skilful first five-eighth was a standout with Southland Boys’ High School in recent seasons and progressed to the New Zealand Barbarians U18 team last year.
Naturally he attracted attention from various provinces - and more notably Super Rugby organisations - throughout New Zealand.
But in a significant win for Southland rugby Muliaina has opted to stay aligned to Rugby Southland.
He’ has stuck with Southland’s academy programme as he prepares for his first year of study at the University of Otago this year.
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Rugby Southland Pathways Manager Scott Eade said it was encouraging to be able to retain a player of Muliaina’s talent.
“If I’m going to be honest there were times in the last couple of years where I had some nerves and did wonder where [Mika] is going to land. We hoped he would want to stay in Southland.
“The Highlanders have been a big part in ensuring he has stayed down here. That was a big one to get Mika across the line because he’s got a bit about him with his skillset.
“Making that Barbarians team last year, there was a bit of interest in him.”
Eade had identified Muliaina, looseforward Jayden Broome, and prop Thomas Jennings as three 2024 school leavers from that Rugby Southland needed to be focused on retaining.
They were successful with all three. That’s something worth celebrating.
Like Muliaina, Broome will head to Dunedin this year to study but will play his representative rugby for Southland.
Jennings is staying in Southland and will line up for Pirates-Old Boys in Southland’s club competition.
There are probably a few reasons behind Rugby Southland’s recent victories in retaining talent, which hasn’t always been the case.
The work Scott Eade has done as Pathways Manager, and the confidence young players obviously have in him, and the likes of Matt Saunders, needs to be acknowledged.
Rugby Southland’s willingness to stay aligned to Southland school leavers despite them moving to Dunedin to study has been another key factor during the past couple of years.
The relationship with the Highlanders has also been vital.
“Especially when you see the other [Super Rugby] franchises driving the recruitment and opportunities for young guys,” Eade said.
“So, it’s important for us that the Highlanders is a big part of it. For Mika, they’ve really come to the party.”
Training with the Highlanders…
Muliaina is in the unique situation that while he’s finished his school days, he’s still only 17-years-old and won’t turn 18 until March.
That makes his progress to date that bit more impressive and the Highlanders have already had him training with them during their preseason.
“It’s hard to believe [he is 17] to be honest… He’s a had a good stint at the Highlanders and all the reports have been good,” Eade said.
He’s been training with the Highlanders since the start of January, as has fellow Rugby Southland academy members Gregor Rutledge and Josh Augustine.
Other Southland academy members - midfielder Tayne Harvey and hooker Shaun Kempton - have been with the Highlanders since November.
“The reports from the Highlanders management for all of those guys has been really good. So that’s a real positive.
“Hopefully they can kick on and have a really good year, they’ve got a lot of rugby ahead of them,” Eade said.
A coaching quartet of former Stags…
While many rugby coaches parked any thought of code over the Christmas-New Year break Scott Eade has had the lap-top cranked up planning for the biggest assignment of his young coaching career.
Eade is in planning mode ahead of his role as head coach of the Highlanders U20 team for the short campaign through the month of March.
Helping Eade as assistant coaches is a group of familiar faces - three fellow former Stags in Dayna Cunningham, Marty McKenzie, and Ash Barron.
“It’s important going into a short campaign that you build a rapport, and you’ve got to doing it quickly. So, I already know Dayna and Marty and have had some good chats with Ash, he’s a bloody good man,” Eade said.
“Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll have a couple of sessions for those that are already in Dunedin and when Orientation Week starts, we’ll officially climb into it.
“You don’t really have time to build, you’ve got to go from day one. There’s been a lot of time on WhatsApp, Zooms, phone calls, since the end of November, so it’s going to be great to get together and actually get in the class and on the field and get going.”
The Highlanders U20s team will play two warm up games against an Otago/Southland selection in Dunedin on March 1 and against the Crusaders in Timaru on March 8.
That’s before heading away to the National Under 20 Tournament in Taupō where they will play three games on March 15, 18, and March 22.
Michael Manson to the rescue…
Southland wing Michael Manson has scored in the final play of the game to lift the Highlanders to a preseason win over Moana Pasifika in Auckland on Friday.
Manson’s late try helped book the Highlanders the 26-21 victory in a game that was played over three 30-minute periods and involved extended squads.
The focus for the Highlanders now switches to Rugby Park in Invercargill. They will take on the Crusaders in Invercargill on Waitangi Day in what will be their final preseason hit out before the start of the Super Rugby Pacific season.
The Highlanders first competition game will be against the Waratahs in Sydney on Friday, February 14.
