The role college rugby plays in the Hurricanes club continues to grow in significance.
So, too, has the role the Hurricanes play in trying to improve the game in secondary schools across the landscape of its provincial partners.
“A few years ago it was more about the old boys going back to their colleges and trying to help out along with our coaching staff being asked to go and contribute,” Hurricanes regional development manager Darren Larsen said.
“Now the programme we facilitate, the regional coaching programme, gets us out and amongst the communities.”
That time in the community serves several purposes, including allowing Larsen to run his eyes over players who have been nominated to trial for the Hurricanes Under-18 squad and be part of the club’s development programme.
It’s no small job with nominations ranging between 250 and 300 players for each under-18 training camp annually.
From there the number is whittled down to 50 players who attend the camp before the squad is selected.
“It’s pretty sort after, to try and get into camp because it is highly regarded,” Larsen added. “It’s resourced by Hurricanes and Mitre 10 Cup coaches so you can see why.”
Just how quickly a player can go from camp to the cusp of Investec Super Rugby is demonstrated by former Hastings Boys’ High School No 8 Devon Flanders who went from Hurricanes Under-18s into the New Zealand Schools and into the club as a replacement player.
“His basic school holiday, from December through to February, was being in the Hurricanes environment. And he’s 18,” Larsen said.
The fact someone can manage that is reflective of just how much good work goes into college rugby and that’s something the Hurricanes want to recognise with the “college night” theme at Westpac Stadium on Saturday when they host the Highlanders.
It’s a chance for the players to reconnect with their secondary schools while students also get an opportunity to buy a $10 match ticket if they contact their rugby administrator in schools.
The first 500 fans also receive a commemorative college night poster while the halftime entertainment includes a secondary school 4x100m relay.
For most of the players in the Hurricanes, their time playing college rugby holds as incredibly special across their career to date.
That’s how Hurricanes hooker Ricky Riccitelli feels as he reflects on his time at Francis Douglas Memorial College, a school that has produced a number of special players for the club, including three who will start against the Highlanders.
“It’s about having fun with your mates, really,” he said. “We were a really tight unit, had really good unity in the team and we took pride in the college, that’s what it means to a lot of the boys.”
Riccitelli believes a lot of the values he and others learnt from playing college rugby have helped shape and benefit them through into Super Rugby.
“It helps you grow as a person and as a man and it makes you learn the right ethos for life. It prepares you well.”
While Riccitelli is an example of the pathway many players have taken, there are others who have not excelled at college first XV level but still make it in the game.