Academy forwards stay in the Red
Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:07
The Reds have signed full contracts with three Reds Academy forwards who made their Super 14 debuts during the past season.
Prop Dayna Edwards and back row forwards Poutasi Luafutu and Scott Higginbotham have each agreed to two-year deals for 2009-10.
According to a Reds media release, Performance Rugby Manager Ben Whitaker said the three will have important roles to play for the Reds and potentially Australia over the next two years.
"Dayna only came into the professional system at the start of the year but improved so rapidly that by mid-season selectors were preferring him to Rodney Blake at tighthead prop.
"With the benefit of an intensive off-season athletic training program he should be in a position to play a very important role for the Reds in 2009," Whitaker said.
"Tasi put real pressure on David Croft during the year at openside flanker and finished the season at blindside flanker when John Roe was injured, while Scotty Higginbotham made a big impact coming mainly off the bench - starting with that memorable hit on Bryan Habana only a couple of minutes into his first Super 14 match.
"Like Dayna, both Tasi and Scott will really step it up another notch next year. They're all young, they're ambitious and they want to play Super14 for the Reds and genuinely contribute to our success - just the type of player we look for at the Reds."
NZ-born Edwards, 23, started playing club rugby in Sydney after arriving in Australia on holiday and got a contract with the Sydney Fleet in last year's Australian Rugby Championship. Reds Forwards Coach Mark Bell spotted his potential and he was recruited into the Reds Academy before being fast-forwarded into the Reds training squad. Edwards earned 12 caps for Queensland during 2008 after making his debut against the Hurricanes in Round Two.
Luafutu, 20, is a former Queensland Under-16, state schoolboy and Queensland Under-19 player and was a member of the 2006 Australian Under-19 side that won the World Championships in 2006. He played nine matches for the Reds during 2008.
An Australian Sevens player, Higginbotham was the Reds Academy Player of the Year in 2007. The 21-year old made his Reds debut off the bench against the Bulls in the fifth round and earned a total of five caps during the season.
