Kianu Kereru-Symes

Kianu Kereru-Symes (born 28 February 1999) is a New Zealand rugby union player, who currently plays as a hooker or Prop for Hawke's Bay in New Zealand's domestic National Provincial Championship competition[1] and the New England Free Jacks in Major League Rugby (MLR) in the United States.[2] He has previously played for the Hurricanes in Super Rugby.

Kianu Kereru-Symes
Full nameKianu Reece Kereru-Symes
Date of birth (1999-02-28) 28 February 1999
Place of birthMāhia, New Zealand
Height180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight106 kg (234 lb; 16 st 10 lb)
SchoolHastings Boys' High School
Rugby union career
Position(s) Hooker, Prop
Current team Hawke's Bay, New England Free Jacks
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2018– Hawke's Bay 52 (35)
2022– Hurricanes 2 (5)
2023 New England Free Jacks 11 (0)
Correct as of 23 September 2023
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2019 New Zealand U20 7 (0)
Correct as of 9 April 2022

Personal life and early career

Kereru-Symes hails from Māhia, in the Hawke's Bay region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. His half-brother, Tom Symes, played 43 games at prop for Hawke's Bay from 2002 to 2007.[3][4] His cousin Paul Symes also played 2 games for the Magpies in 1998–1999, represented East Coast and played for the Central Vikings.[5]

Kereru-Symes attended Hastings Boys' High School, where he captained and played for the school's First XV rugby team, alongside future Hawke's Bay teammates Folau Fakatava, Devan Flanders, Lincoln McClutchie and Danny Toala. He started at loosehead prop for Hastings Boys' in their first National Top 4 final against Mount Albert Grammar School in 2016, but had to leave the field with a suspected concussion after 15 minutes. Hastings Boys' narrowly lost that final 13–14.[6] In 2017, he captained the team to a National Top 4 victory, beating Hamilton Boys' High School 25 to 17 in the final after an undefeated season.[7]

He played representative rugby for several Hawke's Bay age grade teams, including at U13, U14, U16[8] and U19 level.[4]

Both in 2016 and 2017, Kereru-Symes was named in the Hurricanes U18 team to play the Crusaders U18 team in their annual game.[9][10]

Senior career

While he played at prop during his First XV days, Kereru-Symes switched to hooker after he left school.[11]

Kereru-Symes was, for the first time, named in the Hawke's Bay squad for the 2018 Mitre 10 Cup season.[12] He made his debut for the province – via the bench – on 8 September 2018 against Bay of Plenty[4] and earned his first start five days later against Waikato.[13] He scored his first try for the Magpies on 22 September 2018 against North Harbour.[14] At the end of his first season, on 23 October 2018, he won the Magpies Players Player of the Year award and Rookie of the Year award at the team's end-of-season awards function.[15]

From his first season, Kereru-Symes established himself as a reliable back-up for regular starting Magpies hooker Ash Dixon.[11] His excellent performance for Hawke's Bay in 2018 lead to him being named in the Hurricanes U20 team in 2019.[16][17] He also played for the Hurricanes Development team.[18]

The following year, he was part of the wider Hurricanes squad and trained with – and played for – the franchise during preseason.[19] Later in 2020, he also trained with the Blues and Highlanders after being called up as injury cover.[20] He played for the Blues A team,[21][22] but didn't get any game time in Super Rugby.

He was called into the Crusaders squad for preseason ahead of the 2022 Super Rugby season and played in their preseason game against the Highlanders.[23]

On 9 April 2022, Kereru-Symes was called up by the Hurricanes for their game against the Crusaders, as a late replacement for Asafo Aumua. He was named on the reserves bench, but didn't get game time.[24] He made his Super Rugby debut three days later, on Tuesday 12 April 2022, when he started for the Hurricanes against Moana Pasifika. He scored a try on debut.[25]

On 9 January 2023, the New England Free Jacks announced the signing of Kereru-Symes ahead of the 2023 Major League Rugby season.[2] He made his debut for the side – via the reserves bench – on 11 March 2023 against Old Glory DC.[26] On 9 July 2023, he started at loosehead prop for the New England Free Jacks in their Major League Rugby final against San Diego Legion. The Free Jacks won that final 25–24 to be crowned the Major League Rugby champions for the first time.[27]

International career

In 2016, following his successful First XV season playing for Hastings Boys' High School, Kereru-Symes was named in the New Zealand Barbarians Schools' team that played matches against Australian Schools and Fiji Schools.[28] He played at loosehead prop in both games.[29] A year later, he was again invited to attend the New Zealand Schools development camp,[30] but was unavailable for selection for the New Zealand Secondary Schools team due to injury.[31]

Kereru-Symes was the captain[32] of the New Zealand Under-20 side that competed in the 2019 Oceania Rugby Under 20 Championship[33] and the 2019 World Rugby Under 20 Championship.[34]

Career honours

Hawke's Bay

New England Free Jacks

Reference list
  1. "2023 Magpies squad release". Hawke's Bay Rugby Union. 5 July 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  2. "Free Jacks sign Hawke's Bay hooker Kianu Kereru-Symes". New England Free Jacks (Press release). 9 January 2023. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  3. "Thomas John Symes NZ Rugby History profile". NZ Rugby History. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  4. "Hooker Kianu Kereru-Symes ready to step up for Hawke's Bay Magpies in Dixon's absence". Hawke's Bay Today. 8 September 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  5. "Paul Frank Symes NZ Rugby History profile". NZ Rugby History. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  6. "MAGS reach the Mountain top of first XV rugby". College Sport Media. 4 September 2016. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  7. "Hastings, St Peter's and St Mary's win Top 4 finals". College Sport Media. 10 September 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  8. "U19 go down to Tasman but not without fight". Hawke's Bay Today. 2 October 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  9. "Hurricanes Youth Rugby Council name strong U18 team to play Crusaders U18". College Sport Media. 14 July 2016. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  10. "Hurricanes Under 18 Team For 2017 Announced". Hurricanes Youth Rugby Council. 13 July 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  11. "Toala's off-field work rewarded with Baby Blacks selection". Hawke's Bay Today. 9 April 2019. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  12. "2018 Magpies Squad Announced". Hawke's Bay Rugby Union (Press release). 8 August 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  13. "Rugby: Will Tremain add another chapter to family's shield history?". Hawke's Bay Today. 13 September 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  14. "James Parsons celebrates 100th game in style as North Harbour beat Hawke's Bay". Stuff New Zealand. 22 September 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  15. "Tom Parsons soars to Hawke's Bay Magpies supreme award". Hawke's Bay Today. 25 October 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  16. "Hurricanes Under-20 Squad named for season opener". Hurricanes (Press release). 7 February 2019. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  17. "Hurricanes Under-20 squad named for Chiefs". Hurricanes (Press release). 28 February 2019. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  18. "Unbeaten Hurricanes Hunters named to face Japan A". Hurricanes (Press release). 28 March 2019. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  19. "Hurricanes Squad named for pre-season Crusaders clash". Hurricanes (Press release). 16 January 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  20. "Former Hastings Boys' High talent re-signed for Magpies". Hawke's Bay Rugby Union (Press release). 22 July 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  21. "Ieremia leads Blues 'A' team". Blues (Press release). 6 March 2020. Archived from the original on 6 March 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  22. "Curtain Raiser in Hamilton". Blues (Press release). 13 March 2020. Archived from the original on 13 March 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  23. "Pablo Matera to make Crusaders debut in pre-season clash against Highlanders". Rugbypass. 2 February 2022. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  24. "Match Centre - Super Rugby - Hurricanes vs. Crusaders". SANZAAR. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  25. "Hurricanes thrash Moana Pasifika 53-12 in another mauling for newcomers". Stuff NZ. 12 April 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  26. "MLR 2023 – New England Free Jacks vs Old Glory DC – ARN Guide". Americas Rugby News. 10 March 2023. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  27. "Free Jacks edge Legion in classic MLR Championship Final". Americas Rugby News. 8 July 2023. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  28. "NZ Schools and Barbarians Schools teams named". allblacks.com (Press release). 26 September 2016. Archived from the original on 16 November 2016. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  29. "NZ Schools team named for Australia clash". allblacks.com (Press release). 7 October 2016. Archived from the original on 10 September 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  30. "Players selected for NZ Schools rugby development camp". allblacks.com (Press release). 12 September 2017. Archived from the original on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  31. "New Zealand Schools' and New Zealand Schools' Barbarians named". Rugby Heartland. 24 September 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  32. "Kereru-Symes at the helm for Argentina". Te Ao Māori News. 29 May 2019. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  33. "New Zealand Under 20s named for first tournament of 2019". allblacks.com (Press release). 5 April 2019. Archived from the original on 5 April 2019. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  34. "NZ Under 20 squad named for World Rugby Championship". allblacks.com (Press release). 9 May 2019. Archived from the original on 8 December 2021. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
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