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Watch: Hurricanes' try-scoring debutant has a younger brother following in his footsteps

It took just two touches for debutant Hurricanes wing Salesi Rayasi to score his first Super Rugby try, scoring from close range against the Chiefs to cap a full-circle journey for the local Wellingtonian.

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Rayasi’s days at St Pat’s Silverstream saw the dynamic finisher blazing tries on the end of the backline for the 1st XV back in 2014. After giving up rugby to chase a basketball career after school, Rayasi’s second shot with Auckland in last year’s Mitre 10 Cup earned a Super Rugby contract with his hometown franchise Hurricanes.

While his professional career is now just beginning, his younger brother Fritz Rayasi is chasing his footsteps in a case of Déjà vu. The younger brother donned his old jersey for the same 1st XV and went on to perform similar feats with impressive finishing and offloading skills before picking up interest from Bay of Plenty, where he joined the Chiefs-aligned union.

With New Zealand having a track record of having multiple sets of brothers playing professionally, don’t be surprised to see the two square off one day.

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Nickers 34 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

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