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Carlos Spencer's son following in his dad's footsteps with Super Rugby contract
By Ned Lester
All Blacks legend Carlos Spencer's son, Payton has decided where his rugby future will be based and signed on the dotted line with his dad's former Super Rugby side, the Blues.
But that's not the only signing the young fullback has made, also inking a deal with the New Zealand sevens.
“He’s just signed a contract with New Zealand Sevens, Auckland and Auckland Blues," the ex-All Black reported on the Between Two Beers podcast.
"We’re very proud of him. He’s got a great opportunity now the door is open but the hard work starts and the rest is up to him now.
“This year he’s been contacted by a few unions... he made the decision rugby is his future and where he wants to be."
Payton's scintillating play for Hamilton Boys High School's First XV team inevitably started to make waves on social media and amplified the chatter around the 18-year-old's potential.
That noise was only furthered when the Hamilton Boys team claimed the national title.
“As parents we just let him do his own thing. We’ve stood back and let him make his own decisions.
"He was approached from the Chiefs, the Highlanders and Crusaders and the way the Crusaders have been going, I wouldn’t say I was leaning toward him going there, but I wouldn’t have been sad had he gone there; and knowing the history I have with the Crusaders,” Spencer joked.
“But this is his decision and he decided he was going to be happy in Auckland. That was purely his choice on his own. We’re just there to support him, we’re not there to make the decisions for him."
Payton's athletic ability was plain to see from an early age according to his father, but it wasn't applied to rugby, Payton was also a strong performer in his high school's first XI cricket team.
“When it comes to the skillset, he was just one of those kids you know straight away he had something. The natural ability was there.
“We try and instil the discipline in him... living in South Africa for seven-and-a-half years, I thought it was the best place for our kids to go to school. In terms of respect and discipline.
"That place was amazing, he learned a lot there about discipline and respect. We instil a lot of that at home as well.”
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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