fevnut's musings 2019: #2: profiles of overseas signings

fevnut's musings

Fantasy Land (We are such things as dreams are made on - Shakespeare: The Tempest)

So far this year Featherstone Rovers have played two matches and lost them both. But the fact that they were both losses is the only similarity between them. The improvement shown in the match against Dewsbury compared to the Cas game was simply immense. We felt really down after the Cas match and to see our opposition change the player on the left wing from Kieran Gill to Lewis Carr at halftime and for both of them to score hat tricks was gutting.

What a difference it was at Dewsbury. So, we lost but the team played with spirit and quite a lot of class. There were still huge signs that they will take time to get to play to their best as a team but we are sure that will come with time. A good example of not being there yet was Morgan Punchard. We felt quite sorry for him because they were several occasions when he ended up having to take a tackle simply because there was no-one in position to take a pass from him. Nevertheless there were glimpses of his quality including a brilliant offload with a sleight of hand in the second half.

If we improved match upon match in the way that we did over the last two and managed to keep a stable squad then in a couple of years’ time we should be ready to participate in the World Club Challenge. Well, you have to dream!!!

The glaring hole in our squad seems to be at hooker but, as we write this, news has just come through that we have signed an Australian who seems to have the potential to meet our needs.

Our Overseas signings

Cameron King (Age 27) - Hooker

Cameron King has been signed from Parramatta Eels for whom he played 22 games in the last two years. Before that he had played for North Queensland Cowboys (4 games) and Saint George Illawarra Dragons. Whilst at Saint George he played in the side that beat Wigan Warriors 21-15 in the 2011 World Club Challenge scoring the match winning try.

Earlier, in 2009, he captained the Australian Schoolboys in a two match series against Great Britain Community Lions. He was named as the man of the series and the most valuable player. That year he also captained the New South Wales U18s to a 26-6 win over Queensland U18s.

In the following two years he played for the Junior Kangaroos against the Junior Kiwis.

His move to North Queensland Cowboys came in 2014 but he suffered a serious ACL injury that ruled him out for most of that year and the year after. In 2016 he joined Parramatta and was part of the team that won the Auckland 9s.

Ase Boas (Age: 30) - Stand Off

Ase Boas began his career in 2009 with Rabaul Gurias in his native Papua New Guinea. He was immediately made captain and he led them to Grand Final wins in 2009 and 2012.

During 2013 he made his début for Papua New Guinea at Hull, in a World Cup match against France.

In 2015 he joined PNG Hunters who play in the Queensland Cup and became their captain. At PNG Hunters he made 88 appearances, scored 32 tries and kicked 171 goals.

He has played 7 times for Papua New Guinea including 3 games in the 2017 World Cup.

Watson Boas (Age 24) - Scrum-Half

Watson Boas is the younger brother of Ase Boas.

His career started with Agmark Gurias in Papua New Guinea. He joined PNG Hunters in 2016 and has played for them 65 times scoring 22 tries and kicking 17 goals. The goal kicking was all during the 2018 season.

He played his first game for Papua New Guinea in 2016 against Fiji. PNG won the match 24-22 with Watson scoring 2 tries (and Ase kicking 4 goals).

In all he has played 8 times for PNG including 4 matches in the 2017 World Cup.

In 2018 he played for the PNG President’s XIII against the Australian Prime Minister’s XIII.

Although he is primarily a scrum-half he has also played at fullback for PNG Hunters.

Thompson Teteh (Age 29) - Centre

Thompson Teteh also joins Featherstone Rovers from PNG Hunters having joined them in 2014. For the Hunters he made 69 appearances and scored 33 tries.

In 2017 he played for Redcliffe Dolphins (also in the Queensland Cup) where he made 23 games scoring 6 tries.

He played his first game for Papua New Guinea against Fiji in 2015. Since then he has played 3 more games for them, including 1 in the 2017 World Cup.

Watching videos of Thompson reveals that he is an excellent tackle buster and a ferocious tackler.