The Super Rugby Aupiki final will offer a final audition for some of New Zealand’s brightest young stars, including one prospect who is vying to be the first of a talented trio of siblings to earn national selection.
Taufa Bason, at just 18 years of age, has shot into the national selection discussion in her rookie season with the Blues, proving to be one of the brightest young talents in New Zealand.
Her brothers, Mosese and Vernon, will both be familiar to New Zealand U20 and Manawatu fans alike, and both appear to be well on their way to earning Hurricanes contracts.
With each of the three siblings showing immense promise, could we be seeing the emergence of the next powerhouse rugby family?
New Zealand has a proud history of siblings taking the international stage by storm, with the Barretts – Beauden, Scott and Jordie – being the current example. The Ioanes, Saveas, and Whitelocks have each carved strong legacies in the past decade, following in the footsteps of the Brookes, Whettons and Meads’.
The Basons are only at the very beginning of their respective professional rugby journeys, with recent New Zealand U20 captain Vernon the oldest of the trio at 20.
“If you look at the pathways and you even look at their performance in the NPC, in terms of Vernon and Mosese, definitely, it’s on the cards. I mean, there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge, but I don’t see why you couldn’t see all three in black jerseys,” Parsons said on the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.
For Taufa, her breakout season has put her forward for contention in a World Cup year, competing for a spot in a position that already boasts plenty of experienced talent and potentially SVNS star Jorja Miller.
But the youngster is no stranger to an uphill selection battle, having forced Blues coach Willie Walker’s hand ahead of the Aupiki final, where she’ll start at openside flanker.
“She’s pushed her way into the squad. She wasn’t getting a crack and almost forced her way, through performances off the bench,” Parsons explained.
“She’s a young player coming through, and looks athletic, I wouldn’t say she’s a muscular seven, she’s quite lean – almost more like a sevens player – but physical. She’s almost a perfect breed for that loose-forward role.
“You saw Niall Williams go there in previous seasons, it’s very similar in terms of the way they’ve played her, in and around that breakdown, defensively and the contact but also letting her play on that width.”
The Blues emerged from their first clash with Matatu this season as clear victors, but couldn’t back that up weeks later and fell to their lone loss of the season in Whangarei.
Matatu, however, do head into the final having lost their latest outing against the Chiefs Manawa.
“I think why the loss will hurt is the reality going into that game is they could have had a home final, had the Poua tripped up the Blues in some way.
“So I think they’ll be dented by it. But sometimes it can be a can be a gift, although it’s poorly wrapped and they won’t like it. They know they’ve got the ability to do so, but the way they Blues up north was through speed of play, speed of ball, quick taps, kick territory, go to line outs, put the line out under pressure, force turnovers.
“So they’ve got it all there. It’s just, if they don’t get their carry right, they don’t get their clean right, they can’t play that up-tempo game that Maia Joseph can just absolutely exploit anyone. Hannah King, the same, Amy du Plessis really came into her own in their second half, attacking-wise, and they left a lot of opportunities out there.
“They’re going to need to score points, though, like the Blues will score points, and defensively, they’ve been quite strong. The Blues throughout the year, there’s been a couple of obviously tight, tight games, but they have held the Matatu to seven in their first game.
“So I think the strengths of the Matatu rely heavily in and around that speed of breakdown on attack, and then defensively, they just can’t get tight. The Blues love the edge play, absolutely. You’ve got Woodman and we saw on the weekend Bason moving into that edge role was extremely strong; Sylvia Brunt, like all these X Factor players… Kolose, I could just go all day.
“But if they don’t allow the Blues to get to that edge, they’re right in the contest. But they’ve got to make sure that they don’t get too tight.
“They got the rewards from that rush D, if Matatu can really put that rush D and stop that edge ball and make their one-on-one tackles, there’s no reason why they can’t come north and get a result.”
