Team naming: 20-year-old prop in line for Stags debut
Hunter Fahey's call up comes as the Southland Stags delve deep into their propping stocks with starting props Joe Walsh and Morgan Mitchell both ruled out of the Auckland clash.
Hunter Fahey’s remarkable rugby rise is about to take another twist. The young prop is in line to make his Southland Stags debut on Sunday.
The 20-year-old has been named on the bench for Southland’s NPC game against Auckland at Rugby Park in Invercargill.
It comes as the Stags delve deep into their propping stocks with starting props Joe Walsh and Morgan Mitchell both ruled out of the Auckland clash.
Fahey is part of the Rugby Southland academy system and had spent time training with the Stags as a development opportunity.
However, Fahey now finds himself named in the 23 in just his second year out of school.
Fahey hasn’t taken your traditional route to the Stags.
He played all his school rugby at Verdon College in Invercargill and never had any intention of shifting to one of the traditional powerhouse rugby schools in the southern region.
In Year 11 he missed out on the Southland Under-16 A team, and despite showing some promise in Year 12 and Year 13 wasn’t on the radar in terms of Highlanders under-18 camps.
But then came 2022, his first year attending university in Dunedin.
Things started to happen.
He was a key figure in helping the Dunedin Rugby Club’s premier colts team go unbeaten to win its competition. By the end of the season, the teenage prop had been called in to make his premier club debut in Dunedin’s semifinal fixture.
Then came Otago under-19 selection last year before being selected in the Highlanders under-20 team at the national tournament in Taupo.
The rapid rise continued.
In July Fahey answered an SOS from the New Zealand U20 selectors to head to the World Championships in South Africa and ended up playing in two games.
Fahey has since linked with the Southland Under-19 team and was expected to line up against Canterbury on Friday night in Dunedin. Southland is eligible to field some U20 players.
However, instead of playing for the Southland U19 this weekend, Fahey will be pulling on a Stags jersey.
His potential debut has come much earlier than most expected for a young prop still learning the craft.
It’s likely the Stags decision-makers won’t throw Fahey into the game early if an injury does strike early.
Shaun Stodart has been named to start on the loosehead side of the scrum and Quinn-Harrison-Jones on the tight-head side.
Fahey provides loosehead cover; however, fellow propping reserve Jonah Aoina can cover both sides of the scrum. If there is an early injury Aoina is likely to cover both sides.
But Fahey could find some game time late in the contest.
However, it does play out on Sunday it will be a proud day for the Fahey family who is well-respected in the Southland rugby community.
His father Regan is an assistant manager with the Stags, while Hunter’s mother Debbie has captured many special moments in recent years as an accomplished rugby photographer.
It just might be that her son Hunter who pops up in Debbie’s viewfinder on Sunday afternoon at Rugby Park.
In July Fahey told The Southland Tribune that he was proud of his journey. At that point, he was preparing to play for the Highlanders U20 team.
“There are probably a lot of boys out there that don’t go to the big schools who probably think they have to, it’s good to show that you don’t always have to if you work hard enough,” he said in July.
Given since that comment he has played for the New Zealand U20 team and has now been named in a Stags gameday 23 Fahey has even more reason to be proud.
Three other players are also in line to make their Stags debut on Sunday, including Eastern-Northern Barbarians midfielder Angus Simmers.
Simmers joins the bench with Tevita Latu shifting into the starting lineup to replace the injured Scott Gregory at second five-eighth.
Former Bay of Plenty hooker Nic Souchon is also in line to make his first appearance in a Stags jersey from the bench, as is former Hawke’s Bay halfback Connor McLeod.
Meanwhile, No 8 Semisi Tupou Ta’eiloa will get his first start at NPC level, with Jacob Coghlan replacing him on the bench.
Stags team named to play Auckland:
1.Shaun Stodart
2. Jack Taylor
3. Quinn Harrison–Jones
4. Danny Drake
5. Josh Bekhuis ©
6. Blair Ryall
7. Hayden Michaels
8. Semisi Tupou Ta’eiloa
9. Jay Renton
10. Dan Hollinshead (vc)
11. Michael Manson
12. Tevita Latu
13. Matt Whaanga
14. Viliami Fine (15th Game - Blazer)
15. Greg Dyer
16. Nic Souchon*
17. Hunter Fahey*
18. Jonah Aoina
19. Mike McKee
20. Jacob Coghlan
21. Connor McLeod*
22. Angus Simmers*
23. Noah Foster
Denotes potential debut.