The Melbourne Rugby Club would like to congratulate Ikapote Tupai on being selected in the BMW U20s Australian side to play New Zealand at the Oceania Rugby U20s Championship at Bond University, Gold Coast this May.

The 20 year old Flanker played in the Melbourne Rebels U20s in the 2016 Super U20s Championship and made his debut for the Unicorns Premier 1 team this year in the Round 4 #DewarShield match against Footscray.

He has a long list of achievements, which includes selection for the 2015 Tongan U20s in the Rugby World Trophy in Portugal. Tupai started every game at Openside Flanker helping Tonga finish fourth overall. The young gun also represented Victoria at U18 level in 2014.

Unicorns Head Coach, Tumai Edwards said, “Pote is a young player who is defensively strong and a physical ball carrier, he has a lot of potential and is certainly one to watch in the future. We are excited to see him take his rugby to the next level and compete for Australia.”

The Australian U20s team is the final step in the ARU’s BMW Pathway to Gold program. The elite pathways program is designed to create the next generation of elite representative players for Australian Rugby for both men and women across Sevens and XVs.

The Australian U20 squad will play New Zealand twice in the lead up to the World Rugby U20s Championship in Manchester in June. Fans from across the world will have the opportunity to see the next generation of stars for the Qantas Wallabies and New Zealand with the matches to be live streamed via rugby.com.au and oceaniarugby.com.

2016 Oceania Rugby U20s Championship, Bond University, Gold Coast:

– Australia v New Zealand, Tuesday 3 May, 6.30pm AEST

– Australia v New Zealand, Saturday 7 May, 6.30pm AEST

– 2015 Champions: New Zealand