Former Mid Canterbury schoolboys (from left) Liam McCormack, Josh Ree and Elama Touli are making waves on the Canterbury rugby scene. Photo SuppliedWhen Canterbury take to the field at the annual Jock Hobbs Memorial National Under-19 tournament next month, a couple of Mid Canterbury boys look set to feature.

A 31-strong Canterbury Under-19 squad was named this week to contest the South Island tournament, ahead of the national tournament, which will be held in September.

And within that squad are two former members of the Mid Canterbury Combined Schools’ Team, a combination of players from Ashburton College and Mount Hutt College, Josh Ree and Elama Touli.

Ree and Touli both now play their club rugby in Christchurch, with Ree playing for Christchurch, and Touli playing out of the Belfast club, where both had put in strong showings in the 2019 season.

They’ll now form part of a Canterbury Under-19 team that will play the under-19 teams from Tasman, Southland and Otago, and those results would determine the seedings for the South Island teams at the national tournament.

Another promising former Mid Canterbury schoolboy, Liam McCormack, has also been named in the Cantabrian Colts team.

Their success followed hot on the heels of another couple of players with Mid Canterbury roots – Dallas McLeod and Josh Bokser – making the Canterbury squad for the 2019 Mitre 10 Cup.

Canterbury’s Farah Palmer Cup squad would also have a Mid Canterbury influence, with Melanie Puckett making the squad and the Mid Canterbury Rugby Union’s new women’s and schools’ development officer Nicole Purdom named in the wider squad.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 8 August 2019