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Former Canterbury Bulls and current New Zealand Maori frontrower Rulon Nutira has scored a one-year deal with the St George-Illawarra Dragons' NRL squad.
New Brighton rugby union club hooker Fraser Alcock, who played in the NRL 20s competition with the Cronulla Sharks, will also join the Dragons for pre-season training next month.
The deals have been brokered by Christchurch-based players' agent Frank Endacott, who said it showed ''it is still possible for Canterbury players to have a pathway to the NRL''.
''NRL clubs usually look to their New South Wales Cup sides [to bolster their first grade squads], so it's great to have a couple of Kiwis, and Canterbury Kiwis especially, getting a chance.''
Nutira, 24, played this year in the New South Wales ''bush'' - the New South Wales Group Nine competition for the Gundagai Tigers - and was selected in the Group Nine Team of the Year after winning the best prop award as the Tigers bowed out in the major semifinal to the eventual premiers, Albury.
Alcock, 23, has spent the past few years playing rugby union alongside his brother, Mitchell, for New Brighton, which won the 2013 Christchurch Metro division one title. The Dragons want him to play prop.
Endacott said he always felt Nutira had the potential to play in the NRL.
''He's a similar size and plays a similar style to James Tamou, the Australian test prop who plays for the [North Queensland] Cowboys.
"He's six-foot five, Aussie clubs like players with size, but he's also got a big motor for a big man, he can offload and he's got good ball skills.''
A former Kiwis and Warriors coach, Endacott said Nutira could potentially have ''another eight or nine years'' in the NRL if he grasped his second chance at a pro career.
Nutira, a Hornby Panthers product, played in the Australian 20s competition for the Parramatta Eels and the Melbourne Storm.
He was initially offered a first-grade contract by Melbourne, but the deal fell through and he returned to Christchurch.
Endacott watched him play for Hornby and the Canterbury Bulls last year and thought ''he was the best prop in the New Zealand domestic competition''.
''He came to me and said he'd like to have another crack at the NRL.''
So the pair hatched a plan and decided the best move would be for Nutira to return to a NSW regional competition where he could attract interest from NRL scouts.
Endacott said ''four or five clubs'' had approached him about Nutira, with St George proving the best option.
Nutira will join the Dragons after playing with ex-Bulls front row colleague Jaye Pukepuke for New Zealand Maori against a Queensland Indigenous team on the Gold Coast later this month.
''For me, it's only the start. It's only an opportunity. I've got to prove myself, keep working hard and get ultra-fit. Making my NRL debut; that's my goal.
"The club have given me a chance and I want to take it with both hands, and shake the hell out of it.''
Nutira said he had matured a lot since he first went to Australia in his teens.
''I think I needed to do bit of growing up and learn a little abut life and find some balance.
''Coming home [to Christchurch] for a couple of years sorted me, plus a kick up the arse from my missus [Kata].''
Nutira had a sensational 2013 season for Hornby and the Bulls, winning the man of the match in the Panthers' grand final victory over Halswell.
He won selection in the New Zealand Maori team but ''blew out my PCL [posterior cruciate ligament] in the first test against the [Queensland] Aboriginals last year''.
His final season in New Zealand and his campaign with Gundagai had taught him ''how I can play to help my team-mates and help win games''.
Nutira has been working at a meatworks in Gundagai, a town of 2700 people, 390km south-west of Sydney. He played for the Tigers alongside former Canterbury Bulls team-mate Matt Sauni and ex-Riccarton Knights prop Vince Brown.
He has been to St George's training base in Wollongong to meet Dragons first grade coach Paul McGregor and new recruitment manager Peter Mulholland and is looking forward to moving to the beachside city ''and working hard''.
Endacott said Alcock, who also has a one-year contract with the Dragons, will leave for Wollongong after completing his final university commerce exam.
Alcock had phoned Endacott expressing interest in another tilt at the NRL, ''a day before St George called, looking for an extra prop''.
The two Cantabrians will be in good Kiwi company at St George - Kiwis Benji Marshall, Jason Nightingale and Gerard Beale are in the first grade squad and the Dragons have signed ex-Warriors prop Russell Packer on a $1 million contract after he completes a jail sentence for assault.
Meanwhile, Canterbury Bulls fullback Ken Tofilau, 18, has signed for the Newcastle Knights 20s squad and Jordan Pinnock, a West Coaster who plays for Halswell, will link with the Dragons' age-group squad.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/10577660/Ex-Canterbury-Bulls-forward-scores-Dragons-deal
New Brighton rugby union club hooker Fraser Alcock, who played in the NRL 20s competition with the Cronulla Sharks, will also join the Dragons for pre-season training next month.
The deals have been brokered by Christchurch-based players' agent Frank Endacott, who said it showed ''it is still possible for Canterbury players to have a pathway to the NRL''.
''NRL clubs usually look to their New South Wales Cup sides [to bolster their first grade squads], so it's great to have a couple of Kiwis, and Canterbury Kiwis especially, getting a chance.''
Nutira, 24, played this year in the New South Wales ''bush'' - the New South Wales Group Nine competition for the Gundagai Tigers - and was selected in the Group Nine Team of the Year after winning the best prop award as the Tigers bowed out in the major semifinal to the eventual premiers, Albury.
Alcock, 23, has spent the past few years playing rugby union alongside his brother, Mitchell, for New Brighton, which won the 2013 Christchurch Metro division one title. The Dragons want him to play prop.
Endacott said he always felt Nutira had the potential to play in the NRL.
''He's a similar size and plays a similar style to James Tamou, the Australian test prop who plays for the [North Queensland] Cowboys.
"He's six-foot five, Aussie clubs like players with size, but he's also got a big motor for a big man, he can offload and he's got good ball skills.''
A former Kiwis and Warriors coach, Endacott said Nutira could potentially have ''another eight or nine years'' in the NRL if he grasped his second chance at a pro career.
Nutira, a Hornby Panthers product, played in the Australian 20s competition for the Parramatta Eels and the Melbourne Storm.
He was initially offered a first-grade contract by Melbourne, but the deal fell through and he returned to Christchurch.
Endacott watched him play for Hornby and the Canterbury Bulls last year and thought ''he was the best prop in the New Zealand domestic competition''.
''He came to me and said he'd like to have another crack at the NRL.''
So the pair hatched a plan and decided the best move would be for Nutira to return to a NSW regional competition where he could attract interest from NRL scouts.
Endacott said ''four or five clubs'' had approached him about Nutira, with St George proving the best option.
Nutira will join the Dragons after playing with ex-Bulls front row colleague Jaye Pukepuke for New Zealand Maori against a Queensland Indigenous team on the Gold Coast later this month.
''For me, it's only the start. It's only an opportunity. I've got to prove myself, keep working hard and get ultra-fit. Making my NRL debut; that's my goal.
"The club have given me a chance and I want to take it with both hands, and shake the hell out of it.''
Nutira said he had matured a lot since he first went to Australia in his teens.
''I think I needed to do bit of growing up and learn a little abut life and find some balance.
''Coming home [to Christchurch] for a couple of years sorted me, plus a kick up the arse from my missus [Kata].''
Nutira had a sensational 2013 season for Hornby and the Bulls, winning the man of the match in the Panthers' grand final victory over Halswell.
He won selection in the New Zealand Maori team but ''blew out my PCL [posterior cruciate ligament] in the first test against the [Queensland] Aboriginals last year''.
His final season in New Zealand and his campaign with Gundagai had taught him ''how I can play to help my team-mates and help win games''.
Nutira has been working at a meatworks in Gundagai, a town of 2700 people, 390km south-west of Sydney. He played for the Tigers alongside former Canterbury Bulls team-mate Matt Sauni and ex-Riccarton Knights prop Vince Brown.
He has been to St George's training base in Wollongong to meet Dragons first grade coach Paul McGregor and new recruitment manager Peter Mulholland and is looking forward to moving to the beachside city ''and working hard''.
Endacott said Alcock, who also has a one-year contract with the Dragons, will leave for Wollongong after completing his final university commerce exam.
Alcock had phoned Endacott expressing interest in another tilt at the NRL, ''a day before St George called, looking for an extra prop''.
The two Cantabrians will be in good Kiwi company at St George - Kiwis Benji Marshall, Jason Nightingale and Gerard Beale are in the first grade squad and the Dragons have signed ex-Warriors prop Russell Packer on a $1 million contract after he completes a jail sentence for assault.
Meanwhile, Canterbury Bulls fullback Ken Tofilau, 18, has signed for the Newcastle Knights 20s squad and Jordan Pinnock, a West Coaster who plays for Halswell, will link with the Dragons' age-group squad.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/10577660/Ex-Canterbury-Bulls-forward-scores-Dragons-deal
