Canterbury unveil co-captains
NEWS: The Canterbury National Provincial Championship team will be led by co-captains this year, with loose forward Whetu Douglas and scrumhalf Mitchell Drummond taking the reigns in 2018.
The announcement was made at Monday’s Season Launch event in the central city, which was attended by the full NPC squad, coaching group, Canterbury Rugby staff and commercial partners.
Head Coach Joe Maddock said both Douglas and Drummond are natural leaders in the squad.
“Mitch and Whetu were the obvious choice to lead our squad as co-captains in 2018. As a coaching group, we felt it was important to have captains with natural leadership qualities, who set an example on and off the field, and have the respect of their peers.
“This is Mitch’s sixth season in the red and black jersey, and he’s been an important leader in our backline for a long time, while Whetu joins us for the first time in 2018, but brings a lot of rugby experience and has already earned the respect of his team mates. Together, we think their respective leadership qualities will complement one another and serve the team well in 2018,” Maddock said.
Drummond has 37 caps for Canterbury, since making his debut in 2013. The former Nelson College First XV Captain has been in the Crusaders since 2014, and recently captained the side in their fixtures against the Western Force in Perth and the French Barbarians in Christchurch.
Douglas is yet to wear the red and black jersey, but represented Waikato between 2013 and 2016. The 27-year-old played six games for the Crusaders during their 2017 season, and returned from Italian club Benetton to play the Western Force and the French Barbarians in June this year. Douglas has signed on for both Canterbury and the Crusaders for the next two seasons.
The two replace former Canterbury captain, Luke Whitelock, who led the side to three consecutive titles from 2015-2017. Whitelock was named in the All Blacks squad for the Rugby Championship last week.
