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Watch: Ngani Laumape outpaces one Hurricanes defector and blasts straight through another to score exceptional try
By Online Editors
Ngani Laumape has sent a healthy reminder to the nation that he's one of the top midfielders in the country after scoring an exceptional try in the opening five minutes of the Hurricanes match with the Blues.
With Anton Lienert-Brown and Jack Goodhue performing consistently well for the Chiefs and Crusaders and the likes of Braydon Ennor and Rieko Ioane looking having exceptional transitions from the outside backs into the midfield, Laumape has flown under the radar a little bit this year.
Laumape was widely considered one of the unluckiest men in New Zealand to miss selection for the All Blacks at last year's World Cup but with Ryan Crotty and Sonny Bill Williams heading overseas, a couple of new spots have opened up in the NZ midfield.
Although his season has yet caught alight, his showing in the first five minutes will have put the selectors on notice.
Laumape conceded an early penalty for not releasing after a tackle but a short period of Blues possession eventually ended with the Hurricanes having the ball inside the Blues' half.
The Blues defended phase after phase before the ball was eventually spun wide to Laumape who was positioned out on the wing with space in front of him.
Beauden Barrett, the former Hurricane, was playing at fullback but had to rush forward to meet the oncoming Laumape. While the Hurricanes second five is better known for running through players, the former rugby league player instead stepped to the side and burst past Barrett - leaving the fullback clutching at air.
Barrett gave chase and dived to try and bring down Laumape but couldn't get hands on the rampaging midfielder. Instead, Blues 10 Otere Black (who also started his career with the Hurricanes) was forced to attempt to take Laumape down metres in front of the tryline.
Of course, Black stood no chance - and Laumape burst over for the opening try of the match.
Fans hailed Laumape for his all-round brilliance to score the incredible try.
Minutes later, Laumape bowled through Barrett in almost the exact same location and came close to scoring a second try but Emoni Narawa managed to bring the blockbusting centre to ground.
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Latest Comments
Yes that’s what WR needs to look at. Football had the same problem with european powerhouses getting all the latin talent then you’re gaurenteed to get the odd late bloomer (21/22 etc, all the best footballers can play for the country much younger to get locked) star changing his allegiance.
They used youth rep selection for locking national elifibilty at one point etc. Then later only counted residency after the age of 18 (make clubs/nations like in this case wait even longer).
That’s what I’m talking about, not changing allegiance in rugby (were it can only be captured by the senior side), where it is still the senior side. Oh yeah, good point about CJ, so in most cases we probably want kids to be able to switch allegiance, were say someone like Lemoto could rep Tonga (if he wasn’t so good) but still play for Australia’s seniors, while in someone like Kite’s (the last aussie kid to go to France) case he’ll be French qualified via 5 years residency at the age of 21, so France to lock him up before Aussie even get a chance to select him. But if we use footballs regulations, who I’m suggesting WR need to get their a into g replicating, he would only start his 5 years once he turns 18 or whatever, meaning 23 yo is as soon as anyone can switch, and when if they’re good enough teams like NZ and Aus can select them (France don’t give a f, they select anybody just to lock them).
Go to commentsThe only benefit of the draft idea is league competitiveness. There would be absolutely no commercial value in a draft with rugby’s current interest levels.
I wonder what came first in america? I’m assuming it’s commercial aspect just built overtime and was a side effect essentially.
But the idea is not without merit as a goal. The first step towards being able to implement a draft being be creating it’s source of draftees. Where would you have the players come from? NFL uses college, and players of an age around 22 are generally able to step straight into the NFL. Baseball uses School and kids (obviously nowhere near pro level being 3/4 years younger) are sent to minor league clubs for a few years, the equivalent of the Super Rugby academies. I don’t think the latter is possible legally, and probably the most unethical and pointless, so do we create a University scene that builds on and up from the School scene? There is a lot of merit in that and it would tie in much better with our future partners in Japan and America.
Can we used the club scene and dispose of the Super Rugby academies? The benefit of this is that players have no association to their Super side, ie theyre not being drafted elshwere after spending time as a Blues or Chiefs player etc, it removes the negative of investing in a player just to benefit another club. The disadvantage of course is that now the players have nowhere near the quality of coaching and each countries U20s results will suffer (supposedly).
Or are we just doing something really dirty and making a rule that the only players under the age of 22 (that can sign a pro contract..) that a Super side can contract are those that come from the draft? Any player wanting to upgrade from an academy to full contract has to opt into the draft?
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