Student contributes to success on the global stage

Standing at 6 '8 and weighing in at 117kg, 19-year-old Josh Tengblad of Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, and Tūhoe descent is an imposing force on the rugby field, who also brings skills that are rare in such a big frame player.

A Bachelor of Commerce student, Josh, has recently returned from a successful campaign, representing New Zealand in the Under 20’s rugby team that played in the U20 Rugby Championship hosted by South Africa.

The first edition of the U20 Rugby Championship was held in Australia in 2024, with the best rugby talent from Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa battling it out on the rugby field.

This year, the competition was played in the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape during May. Four teams from the four countries played once against each other over a three week period, with New Zealand being crowned champions in the end.

“It was awesome to be involved in a tournament like this, the support and atmosphere from the South African crowd was something I’ve never experienced before and playing a high level of competition from throughout the world was an awesome experience,” Josh says.

Josh and the NZ U20’s kickstarted their campaign with an entertaining 29-29 draw against rival neighbours Australia. This was followed by an emphatic 75-21 victory over Argentina, where Josh featured on the try scorers’ list, scoring a well worked try under the posts.

New Zealand topped off the competition, and sealed the tournament victory, with a nail biting comeback win over the South African hosts 48-45.

“The last game was a nail biter, down to 13 men in the last 5 minutes the boys did really well to hang on and close the game. It was an unreal atmosphere with over 15,000 people and it’s something I’ll never forget.”

While Josh isn’t playing rugby games, going through vigorous training, or in the gym, he focuses on his studies at the University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka.

Currently majoring in management, Josh shares his methods of balancing professional athlete duties as well as being a student.

“Balancing uni and sports is a difficult job and made more difficult by the fact that representative teams are announced quite late so I need to move quickly when it comes to completing school assignments. The support of the Māori centre, especially Jeremy and Tama has been unreal in helping me balance this, also my lecturers have been really understanding which has helped heaps. I managed to do a few assessments over in South Africa which were helped by my manager and also lecturers.”

Josh is no stranger to the professional rugby scene, having represented the New Zealand Schools team during his last year at Sacred Heart College (Auckland). He has also represented the Highlanders U20 team since finishing high school with impressive showings for the team at the Super Rugby U20 Tournaments held in Taupo.

Josh has also been announced as a member of the New Zealand under 20’s squad that will compete in the Worlds U20 Rugby Competition in Italy later this year.

Definitely a name to watch out for in the future.

-Kōrero by Brigham Riwai-Couch, Māori Communications Adviser