Eight years ago Ollie Norris, Samipeni Finau and Cam Roigard were part of a Cambridge St Peter’s School First XV team that won the national co-educational school rugby championship.
OIlie Norris, front second left, and Cam Roigard, back with hand to head with Samipeni Finau next to him, were team mates in St Peter’s First XV.
In Dunedin next week, the school mates could be in the same All Blacks side that takes on France in Dunedin – which would make for a proud day for the St Peter’s rugby programme.
Norris, 25, is one of five new caps in the team. The Hautapu, Waikato and Chiefs prop’s form impressed selectors Scott Robertson, Scott Hansen and Jason Ryan this season.
Yet in his St Peter’s days it was at the back of the scrum in the number eight jersey that he first made his mark. The school moved him into the prop position during the 2017 season and he has never looked back.
Finau, 26, from Tonga, joined St Peter’s the same season as a Year 13 boarding student. He initially played at fullback before switching to loose forward where he has made his mark for Waikato and the Chiefs.
Roigard, 24, who attended St Peter’s for seven years, was at halfback where he has stayed. The pair were both selected for the All Blacks two years ago, joining St Peter’s 1993 old boy Keith Lowen in the exclusive club.
Norris, born in Sydney but of Ngāpuhi descent and his family lives in Mount Maunganui.
He represented New Zealand in the 2017 Barbarians Schools team and was selected in the New Zealand U20s in 2018 and 2019. He made his professional debut for Waikato in the Mitre 10 Cup and was soon signed by the Chiefs for the 2020 Super Rugby season.
In 2021 Norris was named in the Māori All Blacks squad and was called up into the All Blacks XV squad to tour Japan in 2023.
A fourth Cambridge connection to the squad comes with the reselection of loose forward Hautapu’s Luke Jacobson, 28 who captained the Chiefs this season and has 28 New Zealand caps.
