Cantabrians team to play Wellington and the All Blacks

Aug 8 • General News, National, New Zealand • 2038 Views • Comments Off on Cantabrians team to play Wellington and the All Blacks

Canterbury Head Coach, Scott Robertson, has named a team of twenty-five to travel to play as the ‘Cantabrians’ in a warm-up match against Wellington and the All Blacks tomorrow (Friday 9 August).

Thirteen of the twenty-five were named in the Canterbury ITM Cup squad earlier this week. The remaining twelve players come from rugby clubs around the province and have been involved in the wider training group that makes up the Cantabrians.

All five of the new caps named in the 2013 Canterbury squad – Mitchell Graham, Mitchell Drummond, Milford Keresoma, Belgium Tuatagaloa and Matt Symons – will get a run on in at least one of tomorrow’s games.

“This is a great opportunity for these new players in particular to get some valuable game time against formidable opponents, ahead of the start of the official ITM Cup campaign,” Robertson said.

“Opponents don’t come any better than the All Blacks, and it is a strong Wellington side that we will face as well. There is no doubt that it will be a great challenge for our guys, but I know they are also really excited to have the opportunity to pit themselves against some of New Zealand rugby’s best.

“For some of our more senior players, such as Luke Whitelock, Willi Heinz and Colin Slade, it is a chance to show that they can play at the highest level,” Robertson said.

Luke Whitelock and Willi Heinz will share the captaincy role.

The format of tomorrow’s fixture will be three teams playing three halves. The Cantabrians will face the Wellington XV for forty minutes starting at 4pm, followed by forty minutes against the All Blacks at 4:55pm. Wellington and the All Blacks will play the final forty minutes. The games will be played at Lower Hutt’s Hutt Recreation Ground.

Cantabrians team to play Wellington XV and the All Blacks:

No.	POSITION	SURNAME	FIRST NAME
1	Loosehead Prop	GRAHAM	MITCHELL
2	Hooker	SIATAGA	SEB
3	Tighthead Prop	TOKOLAHE	SIATE
4	Left Lock	EVERSON	JOEL
5	Right Lock	KATENE	LUKE
6	Blindside Flanker	LENTJES	JIMMY
7	Openside Flanker	BROWN	JED
8	Number Eight	WHITELOCK	LUKE
9	Halfback	DRUMMOND	MITCHELL
10	First Five	MO’UNGA	RICHIE
11	Left Wing	KERESOMA	MILFORD
12	Second Five	SCHRADER	JAMES
13	Centre	TUATAGALOA	BELGIUM
14	Right Wing	GREEN	MICHAEL
15	Full Back	SLADE	COLIN
16	Hooker	FUNNELL	BEN
17	Prop	LAULALA	NEPO
18		SYMONS	MATT
19		McCOY	AARON
20		HEINZ	WILLI
21		THOMPSON	ROB
22		SWART	MARTY
Blank		FALETAU	SIONE
Blank		VERRAN	JAMIE
Blank		FUJITA	YOSHIKAZU