Kade Poki
Encyclopedia
Kade Poki is a rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 player who represents Southland in the ITM Cup and the Highlanders in the Super Rugby competition.

Provincial Rugby

Poki made his Air New Zealand Cup debut for the Tasman Makos
Tasman Rugby Union
The Tasman Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union at the top of the South Island in New Zealand. It is New Zealand's newest provincial union, founded in 2006 with the amalgamation of the existing Marlborough and Nelson Bays sub unions...

 in 2007 against Taranaki, but injury ruled him out of most of the season. He emerged as a starter in 2008, and spent three seasons as a starter on the wing for the Makos and one of the side's more dangerous players.

For the 2011 ITM Cup
2011 ITM Cup
The 2011 ITM Cup is the 35th provincial rugby union competition in New Zealand, the sixth since the competition reconstruction in 2006 and the second under the new sponsor of ITM ....

, Poki signed with the Southland Stags, where he will line up alongside a number of his teammates with the Highlanders.

Super Rugby

Poki made his Super 14
Super 14
Super Rugby is the largest and pre-eminent professional Rugby union competition in the Southern Hemisphere...

 debut for the Crusaders in 2008 when he played against ACT Brumbies. Aged only 20, he made 10 starts for the team over the course of the season and scored two tries, helping the team to the championship. However, injuries and squad depth limited his chances to build on his freshman season, and he made only 4 more appearances for the Crusaders over the next two seasons.

Poki was left off the Crusaders squad for the 2011 Super Rugby season, and initially not selected by any of the other New Zealand teams. However, an injury to Kurt Baker
Kurt Baker
This article is about the rugby player. For the musician, see Kurt_Baker_.Kurt Baker is a Rugby Union player. He plays for Taranaki as a Fullback....

 saw him added to the Highlanders squad on the eve of the season.

Despite initially being an afterthought addition, Poki made the most of his opportunity and claimed a starting spot on the wing for the Highlanders, and emerged as one of the breakout players of the competition. Highlights of his season include a two-try performance in a win over the defendeing champion Bulls and a sublime individual effort against the Rebels in which he shrugged off 11 tackles to score.

International Rugby

Kade Poki was a star in the 2007 Under-19 World Cup for New Zealand, and again for the New Zealand Under-20 squad in 2008.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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