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Getting to know: New Zealand U20s hooker Vernon Bason

251 days ago

New Zealand U20s skipper Vernon Bason

The Baby Blacks have arrived in Cape Town for the 2024 World Rugby U20 Championship on a mission to do much better than last year. For a country with a glittering heritage in the tournament, especially in the early years when they won four in a row, seventh place in 2023 wasn’t the desired outcome for Clark Laidlaw’s squad.

Jono Gibbes is now the coach and skippering the team is Vernon Bason, who was part of the ’23 squad and has returned for a second bite. He in back in South Africa as a more experienced player having made the NPC breakthrough at Manawatu and also leading his country to age-grade success in the recent inaugural Rugby Championship in Australia.

Before he climbed up on the roof at the DHL Stadium for a pre-tournament photoshoot, he took the RugbyPass Getting to Know Q&A and his range of answers included Jonah Lomu, MrBeast and the Scottish grandfather he never knew:

THE BASICS
Born: October 10, 2004;
Joined country age-grade: New Zealand schools 2021/22;
Club: Hurricanes academy, Manawatu;
Position: Hooker;
Height: 5ft 11;
Weight: 106kg
Boots: Adidas RS7s;
Gumshield: I don’t know the brand. It’s just one of those instrumented ones;
Headgear: Occasionally. Adidas White;
School: Fielding High.

RATE YOURSELF (out of 100)
Pace: 75;
Passing: 90;
Tackling: 90.

Fixture

World Rugby U20 Championship

Wales U20

34 - 41

Full-time

New Zealand U20

All Stats and Data

THE PAST
My favourite New Zealand player of all time is… Jonah Lomu;

Favourite try I have ever scored is… Crossfield kick into the corner back in high school;

A rugby memory that makes me smile is… My semi-professional NPC debut for Manawatu Turbos;

The moment I realised I could make it is… New Zealand schools;

One piece of advice I would give to my younger self is… Take every opportunity head on and have no regrets, put 100 per cent into everything;

My best subject in school was… Physics;

The first player who made me fall in love with rugby is… My father. He played for Tonga back in the day;

Growing up, my position was… Started off at second-five; got too big. Went into eight; got too short. Moved into hooker;

The coach who has most impacted my game is… Justin Lock at Fielding High, my first XV coach. He has been there since day one.

ABOVE AND BELOW: The captains from the 12 World Rugby U20 Championship teams stand on the roof at the DHL Stadium with Table Mountain in the background while their shadows are also pictured from underneath. #WorldRugbyU20s #rugby pic.twitter.com/0Te7KDhczC
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 26, 2024

THE PRESENT
My best attributes on the field are… Ball skills;

One thing I’m doing to improve my education is… It’s on pause at the moment, but there a number of papers I will get done throughout the year without feeling the pressure of balancing it with rugby;

My favourite current New Zealand player is… Samisoni Taukei’aho;

My favourite YouTuber is… MrBeast;

My favourite training drill is… Carry and clean;

My favourite music artist is… Morgan Wallen.

The last time Wales and New Zealand faced off in the #WorldRugbyU20s was a banger ?
Tune into their first match on June 29 live and for free on RugbyPass TV ? pic.twitter.com/VYC4SowaDV
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) June 24, 2024

THE FUTURE
A player who could go all the way is… Xavi Taele;

If I could play with anyone, I would like to play with… Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula;

I will be happy with my career if I… Have managed to crack a good amount of games at Super Rugby level;

One thing I want to add to my game is… Growing in all areas;

If I could play in any other country, I would play in… Scotland. Part of my heritage. I’m half-Scottish, half-Tongan;

One person I want to meet is… My grandfather Steven Bason. He was a Scotland man; I didn’t know him growing up and he has passed now. I’d love to meet. If I had a chance to bring him back, it would be him;

One trophy I would love to win is… The U20s World Cup.

Click here to sign up to RugbyPass TV for free live World Rugby U20s Championship matches from Saturday, June 29

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Comments

1 Comment

Jen 251 days ago

Great to read about the up and coming talent. Looking forward to watching these games and hope he goes well. I’m a bit concerned about his Scottish heritage being mentioned though, in case he gets snaffled. Also: The name of his school is spelled ‘Feilding’ - I know people are inclined to put the ‘i’ before the ‘e’ but that’s not it.

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Chris929 32 minutes ago

Carol Isherwood appointed to historic Lions role

I couldnt leave maud muir out, so playing her and bern makes sense-muir has played plenty at LH in the past. Nothing much between callender/kabeya-but callender is often excellent and stands out in a poor wales side. Its not quite all red roses back line-went for bevan at 9 who i think would be excellent behind such a strong pack. Rowland often gets shunted in at centre or even at full back- i still think shes best at 10 and possibly has better all round game than atichison/harrison. being a lions side you dont have to copy england!

4 Go to comments

PR 1 hour ago

France change two for Ireland but stick with 7-1 bench tactic

Yes, and YOU weren’t screwed over by a draw, yet I’ve never seen someone take a loss so personally. You’ve been bleating about this since 2023 for goodness sake - shoe-horning it into any and every conversation. Just let it go. It’s an embarrassingly weak argument that does your team and its (largely pleasant) supporters base no favours at all.

38 Go to comments

Mzilikazi 1 hour ago

The numbers show Super Rugby Pacific just got even tougher

“…….this is the most exciting start to a Super Rugby campaign in recent memory.” That is for sure, Brett.

Back to comment more later. Still dry here in Toowoomba, so out to finish last touches to home defences, before Cyclone Alfred really affects us. Gold Coast with over 200 mm rain in some places. Currently looks like we get rain but not bad winds.

1 Go to comments

Rugby 101 - Ed Pye 1 hour ago

The revitalised Australians are pushing a Super Rugby revival

Super Rugby refs are already starting to slow down - note the amount of times the 2sec call is made at rucks and the slow downs on scrum resets. The refs need to be constantly encouraged to keep things moving

49 Go to comments

Rugby 101 - Ed Pye 1 hour ago

Will Vern Cotter succumb to second season Blues in Auckland?

Not if they dont have home finals and they are already dicing with that. They dont appear to have evolved much from last year

17 Go to comments

RedWarriors 1 hour ago

France change two for Ireland but stick with 7-1 bench tactic

Again we beat SA in Durban with an injury ravaged team. Guys like you have been predicting Irelands downfall for years for the same reasons.

Re the draw: NZ and SA were making plenty of noise about the draw until they squeeked through. SA and NZ don’t ‘rise above’ the draw. They BENEFIT from it!!

Should Scotland #5 seed globally but drawn in a Pool with Ireland and South Africa just have ‘risen above it’? Wow, if only your advice had occurred to them.

Should Japan in 2015 have ‘risen above it’ and beaten Scotland when forced to play them 4 days after beating South Africa?

That old chesnut about Ireland playing too many players in 2023. Ireland showed no fatigue in the RWC. We played the backline a lot early for coordination as Sexton back from ban. For professional sports people, you need to look at extreme fatigue to failure at the end of full intensity matches. They are the pertinent minutes. A backline running shapes for 60 mins against Romania is not a recovery issue. Amateur statisticians adding up minutes and jumping to silly conclusions means little.

I saw South Africa struggle badly with fatigue after the Quarter Final. Against Engalnd, in the final, you needed luck. You didn’t rise above it: you got poxed.

(BTW son. YOU haven’t won a World Cup

Also to note: you are jsut adding to the reputation of SA as having the most thin skinned supporters on the planet. A comment about Ireland dominating SA physcially and you can’t accept it. SA are never domianted! (even when they are))

38 Go to comments

Rugby 101 - Ed Pye 1 hour ago

Will Vern Cotter succumb to second season Blues in Auckland?

I thought that call was way off - the Canes had dominance at that point and the Blues were under huge pressure. Dominance overrules technical infractions because there are so many technical infractions

17 Go to comments

Rugby 101 - Ed Pye 1 hour ago

New Zealand Rugby should avoid a deal with Kalyn Ponga

Teams buying league players have to play them in the right positions…Tuivasa Sheck was absolutely wasted at 12…the only reason he played there is because that’s where the ABs were lightest and where he thought he could make the team. He should have been on the wing where his footwork and speed could have been most effective.

12 Go to comments

BC 1 hour ago

Carol Isherwood appointed to historic Lions role

Agree with much of what you say, depends on format of tour, size of touring party and who is showing the best form in 2027. Your selections are interesting, firstly because you pick Sam Monaghan above Galligan and Ward. I do not disagree with Wafer, especially as in 2027 she will be reaching her peak but I would find room for Kabaya, same applies. An all Red Rose back line is also interesting especially with Rowland at 10. I would not argue with that though many might. How can you leave any of the Red Roses back line out? Will any non-Red Rose meet the standards of the Red Roses, I hope so. Excellent debate, thank you.

4 Go to comments

PR 2 hours ago

France change two for Ireland but stick with 7-1 bench tactic

Oh here we go again - the draw. If Ireland were that good they would rise above the draw. South Africa did. New Zealand did. Ireland, not so much. You seem to think that it matters what happens in the group stages of the WC. The ONLY thing that matters at World Cups is who lifts the cup in the end. That’s it. Do you take any pride in Ireland being ‘the best’ in your group at the World Cup? Does it make up for the hurt of crashing out in the quarters? Do you think it means anything to the All Blacks that they beat the Boks in the pool game in 2019? Of course not. You only care about those things when, like Ireland, you don’t progress past the knock out stages and are looking for silver linings.

Leinster beating an injury-ravaged Stormers means nothing. For starters the best player in the Leinster team was RG Snyman. Also a young Leinster team lost 62-7 to the Bulls a couple of years ago. You don’t know how good youngsters are until they play Test rugby. And that’s the concern for Ireland. They have blooded some youngsters but by-and-large they need to play their best team to get results. We saw it at the World Cup when the game minutes of Ireland players were off the scale.

Meanwhile the Boks had a 85% win record last year chopping and changing using 50 players. This year the wider Bok squad stands at 80. And Rassie will keep experimenting.

As for the Six Nations - I love it. Great comp (even though it only delivered one team in the last four at the last WC). I love the rivalry and the rich history, although winning it is no way near comparable to winning a World Cup. Maybe you need to have won one to understand.

38 Go to comments

Rugby 101 - Ed Pye 3 hours ago

New Zealand's coaching drain weakens the All Blacks

What would you have expected his record to be with the resources he has available? I think 3 wins out of 14 would have been acceptable

17 Go to comments

BA 3 hours ago

New Zealand Rugby should avoid a deal with Kalyn Ponga

Wouldn’t touch him with a barge pole? It would depend on how much the barge pole costs I reckon because he would def deserve at least a sniff

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Layla Madison 3 hours ago

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3 Go to comments

Chris929 3 hours ago

Carol Isherwood appointed to historic Lions role

TBH we have had very little detail about the womens lions tour-presumably it will be a 3 test series v NZ but will there be warm up games,mid week games ? we dont know. it may be there are no midweek games,so a smaller squad of 30 may go if thats the case. I cant see many travelling fans besides families going-womens rugby is not at that point yet especially with the mens world cup in australia the following month.The hope is the NZ public turn out for the games(black ferns crowds have been poor since the WC). In terms of representation-theres still 2 years to go and a lot can change. Right now england would deserve to dominate a squad but in 2 years ,who knows? but it must be picked on merit only. we have had mens lions teams where 11/12 starters are from 1 country so theres no problem doing it for the womens. My team right now- Muir,Cokayne,Bern,Aldcroft,Monaghan,Wafer,Callender,Matthews, Bevan, Rowland, Dow,Heard, M Jones,Breach,Kildunne

4 Go to comments

Bull Shark 3 hours ago

The revitalised Australians are pushing a Super Rugby revival

I am Delisha, I find my marital affairs in a fluid situation; my husband left me with 2kids I felt like ending it all. I was emotionally down. But all thanks go to Dr herbal. I came across several testimonies about Dr Herbal on guestbook as i was

Where’s Delisha gone?

I think it’s unfair and appalling that the moderators silence Delisha about her “fluid marital situation”!

Fascist censors!

I have decided to come to Rugbypass for all my Herbal and cybersecurity news given the many wonderful posts shared here. And now this!

Delisha, where ever you are, God speed. I hope the fluids in your marriage remain strictly between you and your husband.

49 Go to comments

RedWarriors 3 hours ago

France change two for Ireland but stick with 7-1 bench tactic

With the draw we know the RWC is a lottery cup. Boks were not even the best team in their pool. They won the final by a point against 14 men so second best there too. SA were badly outplayed by France and arguably outplayed by England: 9 down with 10 mins to go, the match out of your hands and England stuffed it.

Well done, you showed grit but you won the lottery cup there. You were second best in your Pool also in 2019 I believe?

Commentators have been predicting Ireland’s demise since 2018 and before. Leinster B team of kids absolutely hammerred the Stormers A team nof SA Internationals. Plenty coming through.

You didn’t seal the wins versus 14 man Scotland or England until late in the match. Ireland let England in for two tries in the last 3 mins. Not good, but they were well beaten unlike versus SA.