Darry Worthington gives his opinion on which five youngsters to keep an eye on in Super Rugby Aotearoa.
Image Copyright – Steve Haag Sports
The start to the 2021 Super Rugby Aotearoa season is fast approaching and is always the case, the five New Zealand sides are loaded with exciting young talent that will be wanting to make their mark on the campaign.
Below, we will take a look at five youngsters who he thinks will become household names before the close of the season.
Zarn Sullivan
Position: Fullback/Fly-half
Team: Blues
Age: 20
The Blues continue to produce promising young backs, who will be looking to follow in the footsteps of Rieko Ioane and Caleb Clarke and push onto national honours.
One man who will be looking to emulate the aforementioned duo is Zarn Sullivan. The 20-year old enjoyed a solid Mitre 10 Cup campaign with Auckland last year where he excelled in the fullback role.
While Sullivan was a standout ten at schoolboy level, he may be tasked with switching between ten and 15 this term as he is competing with the likes of Otere Black, Stephen Perofeta and Harry Plummer for both roles. His coach, Leon MacDonald, certainly thinks highly of the youngster stating that he is the Blues’ young player to watch this term.
Rivez Reihana
Position: Fly-half
Team: Chiefs
Age: 20
Our next youngster is also a fly-half who will be looking to usurp a couple senior players and make the Chiefs number 10 jersey his own.
While young Rivez will face opposition in the form of new signing Bryn Gatland and fellow youngster Caleb Trask, he may well enjoy a solid spell in the ten jersey this term as he looks the most exciting of the trio.
While Gatland and Trask tend to play more conservative games, Reihana likes to have a go with the ball in hand. He was in and out of the Waikato starting line up in last year’s Mitre 10 Cup but did impress when given a shot. I’m expecting him to kick on a lot more during Super Rugby Aotearoa.
Sam Darry
Position: Lock
Team: Blues
Age: 20
There’s a lot of height surrounding this youngster with both the Blues and Crusaders desperate to get his signature before he eventually decided to sign for the team from Auckland.
Darry is a toweing specimen who comes in at a whopping six foot and eight inches. He’s extremely athletic as well and showed his prowess with ball in hand for Canterbury during last year’s Mitre 10 Cup where he made he made five experiences.
While the Blues do have some handy locks on their books with Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, Josh Goodhue and Patrick Tuipolotu on their books, Darry may well force his way into the starting string should he deliver on his massive potential.
Cullen Grace
Position: Flanker
Team: Crusaders
Age 21
Grace was arguably the most impressive youngster in the whole of New Zealand before the 2020 Super Rugby season was called off. When her returned to the field for Super Rugby Aotearoa later in the year, he struggled with injuries and had a bit of a stop-start campaign.
While there are a number of promising young flankers in New Zealand, Grace – at least in my opinion – is going to be the one to watch over the next year. He’s a really smart player and his work rate is incredible. There’s no real weakness in his game either. For my money, he is the closest thing to Richie McCaw we’ve seen since the All Black great retired.
Peter-Umanga Jensen
Position: Centre
Team: Hurricanes
Age: 23
The oldest and most well-known player on the list is recently capped All Black Peter Umanga-Jensen. The Hurricanes centre set the inaugural Super Rugby Aotearoa tournament alight last year and will be looking to repeat the dose this season.
He is a solid all-around player. Solid on the attack and handy on defence as well. His partnership with Ngane Laumape will be vital to the Hurricanes cause with the men from Wellington without the services of livewire scrum-half TJ Perranarra, who is over in Japan.
