Marist St Pats Premier player Matt Peni has been named in the New Zealand Under 20s Junior World Cup squad. The tournament will be played in New Zealand this year for the first time.
The former St Patrick's College player has developed greatly having never made a representative side in his school years.
After playing in the Marist St Pats 7s programme, Matt spent 2013 in Counties Manukau playing for Ardmore Marist. There he played in both their championship winning Premier and Under 20 sides.
After playing for the Counties Under 20 side Matt returned to Wellington last summer where he played 7s for Marist St Pats and the Wellington representative side. That Wellington side won the 2014 National 7s championship.
Matt started his first Premier game for Marist St Pats two weeks ago in the round three Swindale Shield match against Poneke in which he had a great game from the back of the scrum.
Matt will continue Marist St Pats' recent representation in the New Zealand Under 20s side following in the footsteps of All Black Jeff To'omaga-Allen, Solomona Sakalia and Donald Brighouse.
We wish Matt all the best in his preparations and look forward to cheering him on in the tournament which starts on 2 June.