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Hurricanes hail 'significant signing' as deal for All Black Lomax confirmed

Tyrel Lomax after All Blacks match with Japan in 2018. (Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)

Rising young All Blacks prop Tyrel Lomax has signed a four-year deal with the Hurricanes through until at least 2023.

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Lomax, who has strong ties to Wellington with extended family living in Wainuiomata, will join the Hurricanes ahead of the 2020 Investec Super Rugby competition.

The son of former Kiwis international John Lomax, who played 15 tests for the Kiwis and had a long professional league career with the Canberra Raiders, North Queensland Cowboys and Melbourne Storm, Lomax has made a significant impression since he shifted back to New Zealand to pursue a long held ambition to be an All Black.

After making his Super Rugby debut for the Melbourne Rebels in 2017, the 23-year-old joined Tasman in the 2017 Mitre 10 Cup and quickly established himself as first choice tighthead which earned selection in the Highlanders Super Rugby squad in 2018.

He was selected in the All Blacks last November where he made his All Black debut against Japan after a number of strong performances in Super Rugby

Lomax also impressed for the Maori All Blacks when he represented the side on its end of year tour of Canada and France in 2017.

Hurricanes head coach John Plumtree was naturally delighted to have secured Lomax on a long-term deal.

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“His potential is obvious for everyone to see. He’s a very impressive young man who is developing his game at a rapid rate. He is a powerful player, has a strong skill set and we are really excited about working with him,” he said.

“It’s great to be able to bring Tyrel back to the Wellington region where we know he will receive a lot of support and quickly establish himself in the Hurricanes club.”

Hurricanes chief executive Avan Lee paid tribute to the amount of work the club’s high performance team had put into negotiations with Lomax about a possible move to Wellington.

“Having talked to Tyrel we know that he will make a big contribution to the Hurricanes moving forward. Tyrel is a significant signing for us,” he said.

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“It is an area we want to strengthen and we believe we have the perfect person to help us do that.”

In other news: ‘Unfinished business’ behind Gatland leading the Lions for a third time

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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