New Zealand Schools rugby coach Karl Jones and his assistant coach Andrew Douglas named 7 IRANZ graduates in the New Zealand Secondary Schools squad for 2009, which has just completed a two match tour of Australia.
Congratulations to IRANZ players course graduates Michael Allardice (Palmerston North BHS, Manawatu), Carl Axtens (Reporoa College, Bay of Plenty), Norman Goodes (Wellington College, Wellington), Antonio Kiri Kiri (Palmerston BHS, Manawatu), TJ Perenara (Mana College, Wellington), Ben Tameifuna (Hastings BHS, Hawke's Bay) and Codie Taylor (Fielding High School, Manawatu) on their selection.
The team travelled to Australia for games against Australia Schools A in the Gold Coast and Australia Schools in Brisbane.
They won their first game convincingly against Australia Schools A 47-7, running in four tries in the first half and two more in the second half, including tries to halfback TJ Perenara and number eight Antonio Kiri Kiri.
“I am pleased with the start the boys made but we will need to lift our intensity and accuracy if we want to win against Australia Schools”, said Jones after the first game.
Their second victory against Australian Schools was a hard fought battle in Brisbane – New Zealand finally emerging to take the game 28-24.
Coach Karl Jones said it was a tough test match played with a lot of intensity.
“Our set piece let us down in the first half and we didn’t get the ball we were after. The second half was an improved performance from our forwards, therefore the backs were able to dominate and we managed to hold off an Australian come back by remaining focussed,” said Jones.