Stags hopeful racks up remarkable 36-point haul
Fletcher Morgan's 36 points against Star included four tries and a perfect eight conversions from eight attempts.
It’s fair to say Fletcher Morgan had a night out on Wednesday night.
The Woodlands’ second five-eighth racked up a remarkable 36-point haul in his team’s 56-22 win over Star.
Not too many other 36-plus point individual tallies spring to mind in Southland premier club rugby over the years.
Morgan’s 36 points included four tries and a perfect eight conversions from eight attempts.
It was another statement performance for Morgan, who appears to be en route to a spot in the Stags’ 2025 NPC squad.
Naturally, Morgan deflected talk of his impressive Wednesday night outing and passed the praise onto his teammates.
Veteran first five-eighth Marty McKenzie was at the centre of that praise.
“Having Marty McKenzie at ten, he made it pretty straightforward for all of us boys outside him.
“He’s class. Like I said, it made it straightforward. Especially for me just to go out there and do my job well, and I got a few chokies as a result,” Morgan told The Tribune.
In recent years, Morgan has played for Thames Valley at the Heartland Championship level.
He earned selection in the New Zealand Heartland XV and was named Thames Valley’s MVP last year.
Morgan has a desire to play at NPC level. Following some chats with those at Rugby Southland in October, he decided to move to Invercargill and try to play his way into a Stags contract through club rugby.
At the very least, Morgan viewed the shift to the other end of the country as a chance to meet some new people.
“I thought, why not? What an opportunity to come down, meet some new people, and play some footy.
“My goal is to play NPC footy in a semi-professional environment, so I thought it would be an awesome opportunity.”
In between his rugby commitments, Morgan has been working as a teacher’s aide at the Ruru Specialist School in Invercargill.
Morgan’s potential asset within the Stags’ setup in 2025 would be his ability to cover multiple positions in the backline if any gaps needed filling.
Coming out of school and stepping into the senior ranks, Morgan played the majority of his rugby in the outside backs.
Although he spent time in the midfield last season, and has also played the majority of his rugby for Woodlands in the 12 jersey this year.
“I got into the midfield last year with Thames Valley. It was one of my coach’s ideas and I’ve really enjoyed it,” Morgan said.
While the bigger picture goal is a spot in the Stags, for Morgan, helping his Woodlands club at the crunch stage of the season is the most important assignment right at this point in time.
Heading into Wednesday night’s game, Woodlands had already locked in a semifinals berth.
But on the back of three straight losses, Morgan said the strong showing against Star was important.
“We were really happy. It was a good Star side, and we had lost three on the trot. So, it is nice to get back on the horse with a win like that.”
The other two premier grade fixtures were played on Saturday, with Marist beating Blues 29-24 and the Eastern-Northern Barbarians tipping over the top-of-the-table Pirates-Old Boys 29-25.