Ryker Smith has been selected at No.8 for the Queensland Under-16s to play against the NSW Waratahs in Super Rugby U16s in Sydney on Saturday.
The son of Wallabies great George Smith earned his first taste at this level with influential time off the bench in last Friday's 69-6 romp against Victoria at Ballymore Stadium.
He dished off one neat offload out wide for a Mitch Durrheim try. Smith, 16, is noted for his strong ball-carries as he showed repeatedly during the recent KDL Property Group Emerging Reds Cup.
He attends St Andrew's Anglican College at Peregian Springs and is making his mark through the Noosa Dolphins Rugby Club on the Sunshine Coast.
"Ryker is quite physical and a strong ball-carrier. We thought he had a really good impact off the bench and hopefully we'll see more of that on Saturday. He was definitely one of the best backrowers at the recent Emerging Reds Cup," Reds U16s coach Welmar Du Plessis said.
The Reds U16s will have derived great value from an extra week of training together and the hitout against Victoria to advance key combinations.
Prop Jeremiah Kite, back from injury, and hooker Xavier Hill are new starters in the front-row to face the Waratahs. Ralph Labor comes in at halfback to partner flyhalf Charlie Meredith, who had an excellent game against Victoria both with his distribution and finding a 50-22 with the boot.
At inside centre, Karter Iva comes in to replace Kyron Arthy, a two-try force against Victoria but sidelined with a broken bone in his foot.
"It's a loss to be without Kyron, likely for the rest of the tournament, but Karter is a very good centre who can give us some of the same hard carries in the middle," Du Plessis said.
"The match against Victoria and extra training time have been a plus. We were a bit clunky to start that game but we found some fluency and will be better prepared for NSW.
"We have to front up in defence because we know how dangerous NSW are on attack, especially out wide. That has to be a real accent as well as starting well to apply some scoreboard pressure."
Fullback James Smith will captain the side.
QUEENSLAND REDS U16s vs NSW WARATAHS U16s
1:10pm AEST Saturday, October 11
Forshaw Park, Sydney
Live on Stan Sport and livestream on rugby.com.au YouTube
1 Jeremiah Kite | Brisbane Boys' College
2 Xavier Hill | Nudgee College
3 Nate Te Whitu | Toowoomba Grammar
4 Nathan Van Huyssteen | Brisbane Boys' College
5 Denver Bradford | Nudgee College
6 Charlie Grieves | Nudgee College
7 Henry Willis | Brisbane State High
8 Ryker Smith | Noosa Dolphins
9 Ralph Labor | Brisbane Grammar
10 Charlie Meredith | Sunshine Coast Grammar
11 Seth Chapman | Toowoomba Grammar
12 Karter Iva | Keebra Park State High
13 Sangwani Chinula | Brisbane Grammar
14 Mitchell Durrheim | Brisbane State High
15 James Smith (c) | The Southport School
Reserves
16 Noah Gaffney | Brisbane Grammar
17 Moses Faleafa | Brisbane Boys’ College
18 Harry O’Hare | Nudgee College
19 Fraser Boakes | Brisbane State High
20 Dylan Goodwin | Nudgee College
21 Matti Gill | Brisbane State High
22 Harry Dowling | The Southport School
23 Will Robinson | The Southport School
SUPER RUGBY U16s SCHEDULE (all times AEST)
Queensland Reds 69 def Victoria 6
NSW Waratahs vs Queensland Reds - 1:10pm Saturday, October 11 - Forshaw Park, Sydney
Western Force vs Queensland Reds - 11am Sunday, October 19 - Southern Lions RUFC, Perth
Queensland Reds vs ACT Brumbies - 10am Saturday, October 25 - Ballymore Stadium
GRAND FINAL - Sunday, 2 November - TBC v TBC
