The Otago Rugby High Performance Academy is an exciting opportunity for local and domestic talented young rugby athletes to discover a pathway in the game while upskilling themselves on all aspects off and on the field.  The programme supports all accepted athletes whether they are studying or in the work force and also offers multiple avenues of support while these athletes take in the demands of possible professional rugby.

The benefits we have at Otago Rugby is the support of Otago University and Otago Polytech with a wide range of educational opportunities within a stone’s throw of the academy which is based at Forsyth Barr Stadium.  The facilities and services that are available are a  High-Performance gym facility, access to Bunnings NPC and Farah Palmer Cup coaches and staff, medical personnel, Sportscode video review facilities and also the pathway opportunity with the Highlanders.

While at the academy all athletes will be guided on their personal development through the six pillars of New Zealand Rugby; technical, tactical, physical, nutrition, mental skills, personal life skills and will be assisted by multiple qualified staff within Otago Rugby.

OTAGO ACADEMY PLAYERS

MENS ACADEMY

TAITELEA TASI-CORTDZ

CHRISTIAN MACEWAN

JOSH TENGBLAD

QUENTIN HOLLAND

DYLAN PLEDGER

BRODIE WALKER

KANE DYNES

RILEY ALLEN

TOM DEVERY

OLI THODE

LIAM BARRON

MANAIA LESA

ISAAC TUROA

WIREMU BRAILEY

WOMENS HIGH PERFORMANCE (2+ YEARS)

SAMMIE BEAN

LUCY CAHILL

OCEANA CAMPBELL

JAMIE CHURCH

PAIGE CHURCH

MIA COCHRANE

GEORIGA CORMICK

CHEYENNE CUNNINGHAM

EILIS DOYLE

OLIVIA FOWLER

ZOE FROOD

JULIA GORINSKI

LUCY HALL

KEELY HILL

TEGAN HOLLOWS

ATAWHAI HOTENE

SHEREE HUME

KAYLEY JOHNSON

LEAH MILES

GEMMA MILLAR

GREER MUIR

ISLA PRINGLE

BELLA REWIRI-WHARERAU

REBEKAH WAIRAU

WOMEN'S ACADEMY (1-2 YEARS)

TE ATAWHAI CAMPBELL

MADDI FLUTEY

ELLA GOMEZ

HANNAH LITHGOW

RAWINIA NGAMOKI-MOANA

MADDI PASK

VIKA PIUKALA

MADDI SULLIVAN

CHARLOTTE VA'AFUSUAGA

CHARLOTTE WILLIAMS

OTAGO ACADEMY NEWS

2024 Men's Academy Wrap Up

It has been a great year for the Otago Men’s Academy. The 2024 intake have worked  very hard off the field and juggled work and tertiary education commitments around preparing themselves to be the best players they can be at this crucial stage of their development. Alongside the critical development pillars of strength and conditioning, mental skills and nutrition, the players have received a number of holistic educational opportunities important for the next stage of their careers. These include, but are not limited to; financial literacy, drugs and alcohol and habits and expected behaviours in public as future professional players.

Individual achievement continues to be another highlight with a large number of our players gaining representative honours on provincial, franchise and national stages.

In March, twelve Academy players represented the Highlanders U20 side at the Super Rugby U20 tournament in Taupo. Following this tournament, Josh Whaanga, Dylan Pledger and A One Lolofie were named in the New Zealand U20 side that travelled to Australia for the Tri nations U20 championships. From this tournament, Dylan and A One were  selected in the U20 World Cup squad which competed at the 2024 Junior World Cup in Cape Town, helping New Zealand to a third place finish.

Provincial recognition came throughout the representative season from August – October for a large number of our players. Academy players Moana Takataka, Dylan Pledger and Kyan Rangitutia all made their debuts for the Otago NPC side, a significant achievement  given their Academy status still.

Following the provincial season, Josh Whaanga was named in the full Highlanders squad from 2025 and as a staff we continue to be proud our Academy continues to be a launching pad for players into fully fledged professional careers. Sam Nemec Vial, Stan McClure, Max Ratcliffe and Rueben Palmer all represented Otago Development, while Quentin Holland and Christian MacEwan made the Otago U19 side. Josh Tengblad and A One Lolofie were unavailable for representative Rugby for Otago in 2025 due to injury.

To round off a great year for our Men’s Academy, five players were selected to attend the NZU19 testing day; Josh Tengblad, Christian MacEwan, Dylan Pledger, Quentin Holland and Kyan Rangitutia, while Kyan also gained recognition by being named in the NZ Maori XV.

Special congratulations to Dylan Pledger, Kyan Rangitutia and Josh Tengblad , who all received 2025 National Development contracts. To cap an immense year, Dylan was named as one of five of NZ Rugby’s almanack’s most promising players in 2025.

Our staff: 

Ben Shepard (Academy Head of Strength and Conditioning)

Will Henry (Set Piece Coach)

Hanna Zouggari (Nutritionist)

Liz Murdoch (Mental Skills)

Amanda Slade (Professional Development Manager)​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Ryan Bambry

Otago Men’s Academy Manager

ryan.bambry@orfu.co.nz

2024 Women's High Perfomance/Academy

The Otago Women's High Performance Programme has had another successful year with many players gaining representative honours at provincial, franchise and national level. This group has worked hard throughout the 2024 season to ensure the product of rugby played in Otago remains at the highest standard and is enjoyable to play and watch. The players have continued to work tirelessly in the gym and on and off the field to ensure they have kept pushing new limits with their speed, strength, skill and understanding of the game. This has allowed the Spirit and Dev XV to take another step forward in their style of play. 2024 has also seen great growth in the depth of the programme and this was highlighted by the Dev XV drawing with the Canterbury Dev XV and notching 50 point wins against the Heartland XV and Southland twice. For perspective, these were a 70 point win to Canterbury and two wins to Southland in 2023. With a huge number of talented players beginning to emerge through the school and club system, the programme is moving forward to an exciting time ahead. 

2024 began with Six players; Maia Joseph, Tegan Hollows, Cheyenne Cunningham, Georgia Cormick, Eilis Doyle and Leah Miles all representing Matatū in Super Rugby Aupiki, a fantastic achievement for all involved. Jamie Church , Keely Hill and Sammie Bean were included in the Matatū wider training squad which shows they are on the cusp of making the step up to Super Rugby. 

Sheree Hume was picked up by the Western Force in the Super Rugby W competition in Australia,  which shows that eyes are on all our FPC players.

On top of this we saw Vika Piukala selected to represent Tonga in the Pacific Championship against Samoa and Fiji in Australia. 

Undoubtedly though, the elevation of Maia Joseph to a fully contracted Black Fern is a massive highlight for the programme. Maia has worked hard and returned from a serious knee injury to cement herself in the Black Ferns as a starting halfback in 2024. This is a great achievement for Maia and also shows the way for many of our aspiring players, that national honours can be achieved from the Otago programme. 

The 2025 Super Aupiki Squads have since been announced with Maia Joseph, Tegan Hollows and Eilis Doyle returning to Matatū and the exciting inclusion of 18 year old and Otago Spirit MVP Charlotte Va’afusuaga for her first Super Rugby Aupiki contract. Leah Miles was unfortunately unavailable due to her continuing rehab from a serious knee injury picked up in the spirit pre-season. 

Shree Hume has returned to the Western Force for the 2025 season and she has been joined by Georgia Cormick who has signed with the Force for the 2025 and 2026 Super W seasons. 

A further highlight was having four players selected in the New Zealand u20 wider Squad. Milahn Ieremia , Charlotte Va’afusuaga and Hannah Lithgow all travelled to Upper Hutt in October to be a part of the camp, while Te Atawhai Campbell was unfortunately unable to attend due to injury. This again highlights that we are developing some great young talent and with two more year 12 school players, in Hannah Norris and Leila Hill, already debuting in 2024 for the Spirit at FPC level, the future certainly looks bright for the Otago programme. 

OTAGO ACADEMY PHOTOS