Pegasus Post: October 07, 2021

6
Thursday October 7 2021
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
PEGASUS POST
League player heading to school of hard knocks
• By Chris Barclay
BRONSON REUBEN faces a
steep learning curve on, and
off, the field next year when the
talented rugby league player
relocates to Sydney to pursue his
NRL dream.
Not only will the 15-year-old,
of Prestons, have to adapt to an
Australian education curriculum
near the end of secondary school,
Reuben is also joining one of the
code’s ultimate school of hard
knocks after securing a three-year
contract with the Canterbury
Bulldogs.
Fortunately, his mother and
father are in a similar boat after
they make the flight in December
or January.
“It’s a bit of an upheaval really.
We’re selling the house, we don’t
have jobs (to go to) and all that
sort of thing,” Kirsten Reuben
said.
However, crossing the Tasman
after her son finishes year 11 at St
Bede’s College is a calculated risk
the family is willing to take.
“He’s one of these kids that
doesn’t have a problem with
change. If we didn’t go we’d just
sit here forever thinking what
might have been,” said Kirsten,
who will lean on club staff and old
263 x 180
BULLDOGS PUP: Promising rugby league player Bronson high school friends when making
Reuben heads to Sydney next year after securing a the transition.
development contract with the Canterbury Bulldogs Bronson, who captained the
NRL club.
PHOTO: GEOFF SLOAN Southern Zone Scorpions to a
FAVOURITE
PLAYER: One of
Bronson Reuben’s
favourite NRL stars,
retired playmaker
Johnathan
Thurston, also
launched his rugby
league career
at the Bulldogs.
PHOTO: GETTY
42-6 victory over the Wellington
Orcas at the national under-16
tournament at Nga Puna Wai on
Saturday, impressed at an Elite
Sport Performance Trust two-day
talent identification camp for 20
players in Auckland last year.
Ideally, the halfback would have
attended training sessions at the
Bulldogs’ Belmore headquarters
during the July school holidays
but MIQ requirements ruled out
the trip.
“He could get there, but there
was no guarantee he could get
home,” Kirsten said.
Bronson started playing rugby
league as a six-year-old at the
Kaiapoi-based Northern Bulldogs,
following in father Kyle’s
sprigmarks – a former New Zealand
age group and Canterbury
representative.
“It’ll be a big learning curve
but like anything, if you want to
excel at a sport you should probably
fish where the fish are,” said
Kirsten, the Northern Bulldogs
club secretary.
“You go where they’ve got good
programmes, they just do it properly
over there. We couldn’t really
not do it.”
The Northern Bulldogs under-
16s player of the year for 2021,
Bronson, who has represented
Canterbury since he was nine,
will play in the same grade next
year.
His favourite player is retired
Kangaroos, Queensland and
North Queensland halfback
Johnathan Thurston, who started
his illustrious career at the Bulldogs
in 2002.
Bronson is the second player
from St Bede’s to join the
Canterbury Bulldogs, following
year 13 student and Halswell
Hornets back rower Tanner
Stowers-Smith, who signed a twoyear
deal last December.
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