New Canterbury Under 19 Head Coach Grant Keenan has named his squad for the upcoming South Island Qualification fixtures. 

The 31-man squad played a warm-up match against Tasman Under 19 in Kaikoura on Saturday 11 August, with the first qualification match for the red and blacks to be played this Saturday against Otago Under 19 in Dunedin. 

Canterbury will play Otago, Southland and Tasman between 18 August and 1 September. The top two sides at the conclusion of the Southern Region matches will qualify for the Premiership division of the Jock Hobbs Memorial National Under 19 Tournament in early September, while the third and fourth ranked teams will compete for the Championship title.  

Head Coach Grant Keenan said the qualifying matches would be crucial in terms of how the team is placed for the national tournament in September.

“We are up against some strong teams in this Southern region, but that will stand us in good stead in terms of the experience the team will gain leading into the National Tournament.  

"We have 5 players returning from the 2017 team that finished 4th at the Taupo tournament, so they will bring valuable experience to the new players in the squad, and their voice will be important as we prepare for a tough national tournament. It is a fairly new group that will relish the challenge and benefit greatly from the opportunity to play in the qualification matches.  

"As a coaching group, we are excited by the potential in this squad, and there is no shortage of energy and enthusiasm among the group as we look to kick off our season this weekend,”  Keenan said. 

Keenan is joined by fellow first year coaches Simon Kneebone, who will look after set piece, and defence coach Blair Baxter.

Canterbury U19 squad for 2018 South Island Qualification:

Player (Club)

Finlay Brewis (Canterbury University) 

Reon Lowery (Burnside) 

Perry Karati (Burnside)

Shilo Klein (HSOB)

Maka Mafileo* (Belfast) 

Manaaki Boyle-Tiatia (Canterbury University) 

Thomas Edwards (New Brighton) 

Fletcher Newell (Lincoln University) 

Nick Frost (Lincoln University) 

Cullen Grace (Lincoln University) 

Boris van Bruchem (New Brighton) 

Viliami-Fehoko Fungavaka (Saracens) 

Josh Bokser (Lincoln University) 

Finlay Joyce (HSOB) 

Connor Gordon (Lincoln University) 

Mitchell Gibson (Canterbury University) 

Glen Beardsley (Lincoln University) 

Matthew Letoga (Canterbury University) 

Luke Donaldson (Lincoln University) 

Charlie Watanabe (Belfast) 

Conor McManus (Christchurch) 

Fergus Burke (Canterbury University) 

Alex Harford (HSOB)

Dallas McLeod (Christchurch) 

Sam Gilbert (Lincoln University) 

Luke Glen (HSOB) 

Burns Mills (Christchurch) 

Coel Kerr (Lincoln University) 

Connor Garden-Bachop (Lincoln University)

Fletcher Morgan (Lincoln University) 

Rico Syme (Christchurch) 

*Subject to fitness 

Article added: Tuesday 14 August 2018