NRC: North Harbour Rays Announce Development Squad
North Harbour Rays Press Release –
The Macquarie University North Harbour Rays coaching team have begun working with a development squad in preparation for the looming National Rugby Championship season that kicks off at the end of August.
Head Coach Geoff Townsend along with assistant coaches Haig Sare, Damien Cummins and Michael Lipman put the squad through a light “information heavy” session at Manly Oval on Wednesday night.
“It was all about getting some information into the guys about how we want to play and for them all to start to get to know each other a bit better,” Townsend said.
“The squad that we are working with at the moment is drawn from our four member clubs and as you would expect they are all training at least another couple of nights a week so these get togethers will be all about patterns and structures.
“It all went well and by the end of the session you could see some of the combinations that were working well.
“Obviously there’s lots to do before our first game but I must say that we have made a good start.”
Training for the Rays season will ramp up as the season draws closer and clubs bow out of the Shute Shield premiership race.
As you would expect Manly and Warringah have the bulk of the players in the development squad.
Manly, who are on top of the Shute Shield competition table, have 13 while Warringah have 11. Gordon have five representatives while Northern Suburbs have four.
Each franchise in the NRC will be allocated four Wallabies and up to 12 contracted Super Rugby players. These players are yet to be announced.
In coming weeks Townsend is hoping to bring further players into the squad to get a close look at how they perform and how they gel with other squad members.
“We’re on the look out to fortify a couple of areas in the squad – in and around the scrum base and at lock – and we just want to have a closer look at a couple of guys,” Townsend added.
“This early training is important and will certainly play a major role in how the squad develops.”
Townsend will base operations in season at Macquarie Uni where the squad will have access to a world-class gym, pool and numerous other rehab facilities.
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MACQUARIE UNI NORTH HARBOUR RAYS DEVELOPMENT SQUAD:
GORDON: Tom Matthews, Nick Fraser, Matt McDougall, Jack Dempsey, Lucas Simkin.
WARRINGAH: Wayne Borsak, Luke Holmes, Sam Ward, Boyd Killingworth, Josh Holmes, Hamish Angus, Tui Tuisavaii, Michael Adams, Sireli Tagicakibau, Harry Jones, David Feltscheer.
NORTHERN SUBURBS: Kevin McNamara, James Cunningham, Michael Wells, Jac Cameron.
MANLY: Mitch Lewis, Rory O’Connor, Dave Porecki, Tim Fairbrother, Greg Peterson, Ed Gower, Matt Phillips, Harry Bergelin, Kotoni Ale, Brian Sefanaia, Malietoa Hingano, Dane Chisholm, Scott Daruda.
An interview with Geoff Townsend and some training clips from the first session at Manly Oval from Wednesday night are on our YouTube Channel