All Blacks flanker Dillon Hunt named captain of North Harbour squad powered by 12 Super Rugby players

The North Harbour Mitre 10 Cup side is bucking the trend once again by selecting a squad with home-grown roots and plenty of history in the province.

In the 32-man squad confirmed today, a total of 16 players attended high school in the North Harbour region and many have family links to the team.

The squad has retained the majority of players from 2019 when they finished fifth in the Premiership, but have also gained through a number of players earning more experience in Super Rugby teams and wider training groups.

Dillon Hunt and Bryn Gatland were at the Highlanders, Shaun Stevenson featured at the Chiefs, while Murphy Taramai was at the Hurricanes, having previously played for the Blues and also the All Blacks Sevens.

At the Super Rugby Aotearoa winning Crusaders was 22-year-old loose forward, Ethan Roots along with halfback Bryn Hall.

Hall has 78 appearances for North Harbour and is one of a group of seven players in the squad who have played over 30 times for the province.

The Blues had a number of Harbour players featuring strongly with the likes of Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, Karl Tu’inukuafe and Sione Mafileo mainstays of the side while 22-year-old Jacob Pierce put in some hard-hitting appearances as well. Pierce is a potential star of the future at over two metres tall and in excess of 115kg. His father, Scott was a North Harbour player during the 1980’s and 90’s with 74 appearances for the team.

Of note is that there are three sets of brothers in the squad; Cowley-Tuioti, Gerard and Xavier, Lotu and Fine Inisi as well as the Roots, Ethan and Jimmy.

Captain for the 2020 season is Highlanders flanker Hunt, who has a busy time coming up with the North vs South game before returning to his home province to lead the team.

“It’s a fairly young side. Guys have been rewarded for what they’ve done in clubs,” said 25-year-old Hunt. “We’ve retained a pretty solid group of core leaders, it’s a pretty exciting squad and I’m keen to see what we can do. Even last year we didn’t have as many big names as the other teams, but we were able to compete with them and that’s a lot down to the way we were preparing and the way the buy into it and the young guys fitting in.”

For Hunt, the ‘home’ factor and provincial pride represent a lot to him and to the players in the squad.

“It means a lot to people growing up here who have watched the team when they were younger are now part of it. I think it’s pretty special to get guys from the region or have been in the region in the past. It shows there is a clear pathway. I’m very proud…to be a leader in the team, I got a bit of experience last year and I’m looking forward to it, I’ve got some great guys around me who will help me out. I’m pretty excited about where we can take this team over this year and the next couple of years.”

Head coach Kieran Keane is pleased with the group he has assembled and how fresh and keen they are to get on the field and represent their province.

“I think it’s nice they have come from the region, it’s their home and their education was here and representing the flagship team means something. We’ve managed to return the core of the team, but with some freshness as well. We’ve picked the players who are available to us locally and hopefully they get the support from the community,” said Keane.

“There is a settled element to this team. Other provinces like to target big names, we like to grow them. We could surprise a few people with what we can do.”

The home matches for Harbour are the opening game of the season against Canterbury on Friday 11 September as well as against Mitre 10 Cup champions, Tasman on Sunday 4 October, Hawkes Bay Sunday 11 October, the Battle of the Bridge, Saturday 24 October and Counties Manukau Saturday 7 November.

North Harbour stalwart, James Parsons is unavailable due to concussion symptoms.

QBE Insurance continue their support of North Harbour Rugby as principal partner, with Kennards Hire NZ, Barfoot & Thompson, Paladin, Westie Pies, Benefitz, Ritchies Coachlines and North Harbour Ford as major partners of the Union. Their support alongside our other partners is critical to the ongoing success of the team and organisation.

North Harbour Mitre 10 Cup Squad:

Forwards:

Hooker

Luteru Tolai (Northcote), 16 caps

Zane Turner (Silverdale), 0 caps

Prop

Sione Mafileo (North Shore), 53 caps

Nic Mayhew (Northcote), 33 caps

Teague McElroy (Northcote), 0 caps

Jimmy Roots (East Coast Bays), 2 caps

Karl Tu’inukuafe (Takapuna), 27 caps

Lock

Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, (Massey), 56 caps

Xavier Cowley-Tuioti (Massey), 1 cap

Jacob Pierce (North Shore), 17 caps

Mitchell Ryan (Northcote), 0 caps

Loose forward

Tate Evans (East Coast Bays), 2 caps

Dillon Hunt (Marist), 17 caps

Lotu Inisi (Takapuna), 9 caps

Tamarau McGahan (Marist), 0 caps

Ethan Roots (East Coast Bays), 10 caps

Tim Sail (Northcote), 0 caps

Murphy Taramai (Northcote), 41 caps

Backs:

Halfback

Lewis Gjaltema (East Coast Bays), 21 caps

Bryn Hall (Northcote), 78 caps

Brad McNaughten (North Shore), 1 cap

First five

Kade Banks (Takapuna), 0 caps

Bryn Gatland (Takapuna), 31 caps

Jack Heighton (East Coast Bays), 0 caps

Midfield

Fine Inisi (Takapuna), 4 caps

James Little (North Shore), 8 caps

Outside back

Tomas Aoake (East Coast Bays), 5 caps

Walter Fifita (Massey), 0 caps

Ngarohi McGarvey-Black (Marist), 0 caps

Jared Page (East Coast Bays), 3 caps

Shaun Stevenson (Northcote), 30 caps

Asaeli Tikoirotuma (Northcote), 9 caps.

- North Harbour Rugby