Rising rugby stars ready to give it their all

Published date21 January 2023
Publication titleWeekend Herald
In his fourth NPC outing for Wellington, the former St Patrick’s Silverstream figure became the 20th player in provincial history to score a hat-trick

While those try-scoring feats captured acclaim, Lakai’s physicality stood out for a teenage prospect. In the NPC final against Canterbury in Christchurch, he forced hooker Brodie McAlister from the field after one powerful carry.

The Hurricanes haven’t wasted any time, moving swiftly to lock up Lakai’s services through to 2025. While he spent 2022 on a Hurricanes development contract, Lakai is sure to be swiftly promoted next year.

By 2024, when Ardie Savea takes a six-month sabbatical in Japan post-World Cup, Lakai appears destined to assume the Hurricanes starting No8 role and could well be in the All Blacks sights, too.

“He will add to an impressive group of loose forwards, so I am looking forward to great competition among them,” Hurricanes coach Jason Holland said.

“Lakai has had an outstanding NPC season with the Wellington Lions. He’s going from strength to strength, so we are excited to see where he can get to in the next few years.”

Sylvia BruntThe youngest member of the Black Ferns World Cup-winning squad was always destined for the big stage.

Brunt started training with the senior women’s team at Ponsonby from age 13 after one of her aunties brought her along. Brave and courageous from the outset, she never looked out of place.

The Blues midfielder has become used to progressing rapidly after captaining the Mt Albert Grammar School First XV girls team to the Auckland Championship in 2021. At high school she was also a top touch player and competed in shot put.

Brunt came to the Black Ferns through word of mouth, after playing no part in the inaugural Super Rugby Aupiki last year. Yet she immediately impressed with her maturity.

The 18-year-old debuted off the bench against Canada in the Pacific Four Series in Waitākere. In the next test of that series, she scored a try in the 50-6 win over the United States.

Selected in the World Cup squad, Brunt scored two tries in the 56-12 win against Wales — one of those nominated for World Rugby’s try of the year. In 11 games for Auckland in the Farah Palmer Cup, Brunt has claimed four tries.

“She’s just phenomenal and will have a massive future as a Black Fern,” Black Ferns assistant coach Wes Clarke said. “She’s very intelligent and picks things up really quickly when you coach her.

“She’s very natural and does things that are difficult to coach in some...

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