Kahuku High School once again has big plans for the second half of the school year, as the Oahu-based program travels to important fixtures and hosts big-name teams to get its players experience. This year, that exposure is trickling into the U14 ranks, which will further support the Raiders’ goals at the high school level.
Kahuku is coming off of its Hawaii 7s championship and its first big 15s fixture occurs next week. Utah’s United is flying to the Big Island for two games against Kahuku and one against Kona. Last year, the Raiders traveled to Salt Lake City for games against Wasatch, Brighton and United, and the High School Club NIT host is returning the trip this year. The games will coincide with the Hawaii Youth Rugby’s age grade championships (high school championships aren’t until April).
FULL SCHEDULE
Thursday: Kahuku vs. United; Kahuku JV vs. Kona
Friday: United vs. Kona
Saturday: United vs. Kahuku; Kahuku JV vs. Kona
Kahuku head coach Nusi Tukuafu will be traveling with 29 and is using this pre-season test to experiment with the roster and positions.
“I’ll probably need 20 girls against United,” Tukuafu said. “Last year when we played them at club nationals, we traveled with 25 but I only used roughly 20, and the other five got some playing time early in our pool matches – just not against teams like South Bay, where they were a little nervous to play a heavy team like that. … I only had two injuries. The girls are pretty well conditioned.”
Kahuku played South Bay in the 2019 High School Club NIT final and graduated four players from that starting roster. Beginning with the pack, returning tighthead prop and sophomore Jule-Dine Kawaauhau anchors the front row.
“She’s come a long way,” Tukuafu said. “She attended the Girls High School All-American [GHSAA] 15s camp in Canada last July-August and was one of the younger players in that group. She’s more experienced now and just getting better.”
Kawaauhau sets the platform for two new front rows.
“Both are juniors and they really proved themselves to be in those spots right now. They worked really hard,” Tukuafu said. “They never played rugby before, but they just have the fire. They’re very coachable and picked up the technique during 7s. That’s what helped them – front row in 7s – now we just add the locks and loose forwards behind them and they don’t crumble when we engage into the opposing scrum.”
The second rows and loose forwards are all returners, and senior No. 8 Liana Holani leads that unit. The All-American represented the USA against the Canada U18s during the Winter Camp in December and will be heading to Lindenwood University in fall 2020 to further her education through rugby.
Holani connects with fellow GHSAA scrumhalf Kuulei Uluave, who is heading to BYU in fall 2020, and deploys a dangerous back line.
“I had to redo my whole back line after Taina [Scott] left, just so I can have more experienced players move into the interior line instead of playing wing,” Tukuafu said. “This is probably the fastest back line I’ve had.”
Irie Farley, for example, resisted the move from wing to flyhalf, but the junior’s stellar pass made her the best fit for that key decision-making role. Farley drew attention from GHSAA head coach Martha Daines, who was in Oahu a few weeks ago to watch the state 7s series tournament. Outside center Lome Unga Lewis also showed well and Daines invited the junior to the Next Gen 7s tournament in Canada, where the GHSAAs will compete in April.
“She was really impressed with our girls’ passing abilities, that they can make that 15-meter pass accurately and in space and at pace,” Tukuafu said of Daines’ feedback.
The back three includes a new freshman, Hea Pulotu, who came up through the U14s and is a fast, solid 7s player.
“She’s a real spark plug,” Tukuafu said. “She’s got a lot of fire under her.
“Our other wing played fullback last year – Pualani Beebe,” the coach continued. “She is really fast and has really good ball-handling. She stepped up her defense because of how light she is.”
Pualani Beebe / Photo: Leola Garvida
It helps that Kahuku only graduated four players from last year’s team and that will aid this year’s chemistry, but success is being built at earlier stages. The current junior class, for example, started playing at the U10 and U12 co-ed levels, and the players not only carry a confidence in contact but also in-depth knowledge of their longtime teammates.
“The girls have a better foundation and feeder, and I designed it that way,” said Tukuafu, who is also involved with the boys’ high school team, which is undergoing a bit of a rebuild this year. “My daughters are on the U10 and U12 teams, and they see a pathway to the high school girls. You’ll see it at [the Hawaii Youth Rugby championships]. The girls playing are in all the tackles. They’re used to playing with boys and if they keep that mentality going through the U14s – which isn’t co-ed – they’ll keep playing hard and make it to the high school team.”
The U14 team, which Tukuafu oversees but doesn’t coach, practices on the same pitch as the high school team. The middle schoolers see their older sisters during training, they hear the coaches and team talk, and they’ll run against the high school’s second side. So when players age into the high school team, they’re not entirely new to what’s happening on the opposite end of the field.
But the U14s aren’t just daydreaming of days when they play for the high school team; they have their own fixtures and tours to build toward. The U14s traveled to the Kickoff Tournament in Sacramento in February and blew out the competition.
“Their only competition here on the island is our high school girls, so they were really prepared to go and play,” Tukuafu said.
The team will re-evaluate a return visit to the KOT and is now preparing for a second, larger tour. Kahuku is bringing its U10s, U12s, U14 girls’ and boys’ teams, and high school boys to Utah for games on April 23-25. [The Girls’ HS Club NIT is in Salt Lake City in mid-May.] The U14 girls are set to play East High, Majestics and Provo, and they’re playing 15s.
“We’ve always focused on 7s for the U14s, so 15s is a first for us,” Tukuafu said. “So when our U14s weren’t playing 7s, I’d give the U14 coaches a format for 15s. The girls were so excited; they thought 15s was only for the high school girls and now they were able to do it. It helps our coaching staff at the high school level, too, since they’ll come up knowing the basics.”
Kahuku will be filming its U14 15s matches and look to position the program’s younger players for more opportunities and international experiences.
The Rugby Breakdown will be in Kona for next week’s games, an opportunity made possible by the sponsorship of Kahuku Rugby. Stay tuned for coverage.