Exposure in the Taniwha environment has returned rich rewards for Rory Woods who is the sole Northlander selected to represent New Zealand U19 on their upcoming tour of South Africa.

The 19-year-old barnstorming loose forward moved to Whangārei from Wellington early this year after securing a Northland rugby academy contract and is off to South Africa later this month.

He’s among 30 players making the trip to play four challenging fixtures against age group representative teams from the Stormers, Sharks, Lions and Leopards franchises.

Born in Wellington, Woods has maternal links to Kaitaia (Ngāti Kahu) and said the latest rugby contract has given him an opportunity to connect with that side of his whanau.

He said representing New Zealand would be a huge honour but the enormity of the task in rugby-mad South Africa isn’t lost on him.

“This is the first real opportunity at that level and it’s going to be a good gauge as to how far I can go. With the calibre of players in New Zealand, we have a good chance against the South African teams.”

Woods has a bit of high level rugby under his belt, having represented the New Zealand Maori U18 and the Hurricanes U18 side last year.

“I’ve never been in such a great environment that Taniwha has created. I can come in, train with them, make a mistake and they correct me.

“I knew a New Zealand U19 team was being selected and I really wanted to make the team but I was anxious. The day they called and told me I’d been selected, I called mum then bought fish and chips to celebrate.”

Upon his return from South Africa, Woods will aim for the Cambridge blue jumper as he’s passionate about turning out for the Taniwha in the immediate future.

New Zealand Rugby high performance player development manager Matt Sexton said the tour would be a great opportunity for the growth and development of the U19 age group,
something that had been restricted for the past two years due to Covid.

He said exposing the group to quality South African age group sides who played a different style of game provided a unique development opportunity for this next generation of players.

“This experience, alongside international travel and quality coaching will also accelerate these players’ preparation for the proposed Under 20 Rugby World Cup in July next year.”

Sexton said it was a difficult task picking just 30 players but the coaches were fortunate to be able to select from a talented cohort of players.

The team will assemble at Lincoln University on September 11 for a camp before departing for South Africa two days later.

This is the first New Zealand U19 Squad selected since the side that won the U19 World Championships in 2007.

From 2008, the New Zealand U19 and U21 sides were disbanded to form the New Zealand Under 20s to compete at the annual World Rugby U20 Championship.