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Peter Umaga-Jensen in line for Super Rugby debut
By Online Editors
Peter Umaga-Jensen has been named to start for the Hurricanes against the Reds on Friday night, ready to make a long-awaited Super Rugby debut.
The Umaga-Jensen twins Thomas and Peter, nephews of Hurricanes and All Blacks legend Tana Umaga, burst onto the national scene playing 1st XV rugby for Scots College in Wellington where they made back-to-back national championship games in 2014 and 2015, sharing a title with Hamilton Boys and losing to Rotorua Boys in the other.
Their exploits for Scots College saw them both earn selection in the New Zealand schoolboys and they have been on a path to professional rugby since. Peter debuted for the Wellington Lions in 2016, playing eight games before the Hurricanes moved to secure one of their best local talents. He was signed for the 2017 season but didn't find his way onto the field. With Ngani Laumape being forced to stand-down under mandatory All Black resting requirements, Umaga-Jensen gets his chance now.
Head coach Chris Boyd expects the youngster to fit in nicely in a backline full of test experience.
"Pete's a strong [ball] carrier. He's got a very good passing game as well. He's a good footballer," he said.
"He's got a near test-strength back line around him.
"There's a massive amount of experience inside him with Beaudie, and also with Matt Proctor outside."
TJ Perenara has also been named to return to the starting lineup after coming off the bench against the Blues after over a month on the sidelines due to a knee injury. He will resume the captaincy duties after Brad Shields was named on the bench.
In other re-shuffling, Nehe Milner-Skudder moves to the wing in place of Julian Savea and Jordie Barrett moves from the bench to fullback.
Hurricanes team to face the Reds
15 Jordie Barrett
14 Nehe Milner-Skudder
13 Matt Proctor
12 Peter Umaga-Jensen
11 Ben Lam
10 Beauden Barrett
9 TJ Perenara (c)
8 Blade Thomson
7 Ardie Savea
6 Reed Prinsep
5 Sam Lousi
4 Michael Fatialofa
3 Jeff Toomaga-Allen
2 Ricky Riccitelli
1 Toby Smith
Reserves
16 James O'Reilly
17 Chris Eves
18 Ben May
19 Vaea Fifita
20 Brad Shields
21 Jamie Booth
22 Jackson Garden-Bachop
23 Julian Savea
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Latest Comments
Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".
But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.
The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.
Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?
Go to commentsI think they just need to judge better when it's on and when it's not. If there is a disjointed chase and WJ has a forward in front of him and some space to work with then he should have a crack every time.
If the chase is perfect and the defence is numbered up then it needs to get sent back. From memory they have not really developed a plan for what to do if they take the ball on/in the 22 with a good chase and no counter attacking opportunity.
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