Otago Rugby Football Union is proud to announce the 2021 Otago Squad for the Bunnings Warehouse NPC.

Otago Head Coach Tom Donnelly said, “We believe we have chosen a strong squad from our local grassroots talent pool. We take pride in the fact that all players are affiliated to a local rugby club in Otago. We welcome in five potential debutants: Jermaine Ainsley, Viliami Fine, Nathan Hastie, Fabian Holland, Raymond Nu’u, Cameron Millar, Abraham Pole and Tevita Pole. We are looking forward to seeing these players put on the Golden O for the first time. We are also pretty pumped to see multiple returning players come back into the mix this season, including Otago veteran Matt Faddes from Balclutha”.

Otago will play two preseason fixtures. One against Southland at Eastern RFC in Waikouaiti on Friday 23^rd July at 2:05pm. This game will be played during the school holiday period, which is a great opportunity for kids to come and watch. The second preseason game is against Canterbury on Thursday 29^th July at Alpine Energy Stadium in Timaru at 2:05pm.

The Bunnings Warehouse NPC is set to begin the weekend of Friday 6^th August. Our Otago team play their first home game against Southland at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday 7^th August at 4:35pm. The match day theme is Club Round, so we encourage all our supporters to wear their club jerseys to the game. To view the full 2021 NPC draw click here.

2021 COACHING STAFF

Head Coach: Tom Donnelly

Assistant Coaches: Riki Flutey, Jamie Mackintosh

S & C Coach: Ewan Brumwell

Physio: Thomas Wardhaugh

Manager: Simon Wallace

2021 OTAGO NPC SQUAD

Jermaine Ainsley*                      Alhambra-Union                               PROP

Jonah Aoina                                Kaikorai                                              PROP

James Arscott                             Green Island                                      INSIDE BACK

Henry Bell                                   Kaikorai                                              HOOKER

George Bower                            Harbour                                             PROP

Liam Coltman                             Alhambra-Union                               HOOKER

Josh Dickson                              Otago University                               LOCK

Sef Fa’agase                                Kaikorai                                             PROP

Matt Faddes                                Otago University                              OUTSIDE BACK

Viliami Fine*                                Harbour                                             OUTSIDE BACK

Sam Fischli                                  Taieri                                                  LOOSE FORWARD

Sam Gilbert                                 Green Island                                     OUTSIDE BACK

Kayne Hammington                   Zingari-Richmond                            INSIDE BACK

Nathan Hastie*                           Harbour                                             INSIDE BACK

Joshua Hill                                  Otago University                               LOCK

Josh Hohneck                             Eastern                                              PROP

Fabian Holland*                         Dunedin                                             LOCK

Josh Ioane                                   Southern                                            INSIDE BACK

Ricky Jackson                             Otago University                               HOOKER

Vilimoni Koroi                             Alhambra-Union                               OUTSIDE BACK

Giovanni Leituala                        Otago University                              MIDFIELD

James Lentjes ©                         Taieri                                                  LOOSE FORWARD

Christian Lio-Willie                     Kaikorai                                             LOOSE FORWARD

Slade McDowall                          Kaikorai                                             LOOSE FORWARD

Aleki Morris-Lome                      Harbour                                             MIDFIELD

Jona Nareki                                 Alhambra-Union                               OUTSIDE BACK

Dylan Nel                                    Green Island                                      LOOSE FORWARD

Raymond Nu’u*                          Green Island                                     MIDFIELD

Patelesio Tomkinson                  Harbour                                             MIDFIELD

Will Tucker                                  Kaikorai                                              LOCK

Thomas Umaga-Jensen             Otago University                              MIDFIELD

Freedom Vahaakolo                   Dunedin                                             OUTISDE BACK

Sean Withy                                  Otago University                             LOOSE FORWARD

Season ending injury Saula Ma’u (Harbour). Assembling for injury and national team cover Abraham Pole* (Harbour), Tevita Pole* (Harbour) and Cameron Millar* (Taieri).

*Potential debut   

Article added: Wednesday 07 July 2021