There must have been 200 kids out on the playing fields at Christchurch Boys’ High School when I visited in 2015, all hitting tackle bags, or practising lineouts, or working catch-and-pass drills. The first XV had just finished their session on the main pitch and the headmaster, Nic Hill, and his head coach, Danny Porte, were talking about the rugby culture at the school. “Our resources are our kids,” Porte said. “Hundreds and hundreds of tough kids.”
There was one in particular, Hill said, they were really excited by, a 17-year-old who had scored four tries in an 80-0 win against rivals Christ’s College the previous week. Well, I thought to myself, just about every first team in every top school in New Zealand has its own hot prospect. There is never any way of knowing which ones will kick on into professional rugby.
