Top young players bound for Clareville

The cream of the country's under-13 boys' hockey talent will be on show at Clareville next week.

Twenty-four teams will contest the Hatch Cup tournament, only the second time the prominent event has been held in Wairarapa and the first on artificial surfaces.

Four pools will be in operation from Sunday to Wednesday with the two top-placed sides then going forward to the quarter-finals.

Wairarapa is in pool A along with defending champions South Canterbury, Auckland, Tauranga, Thames Valley and Buller.

Pool B comprises Bay of Plenty, Horowhenua, Northland, Counties Manukau, Marlborough and Mid-Canterbury, pool C North Harbour, Hawke's Bay, Waikato, Taranaki, Southland and Otago and pool D Canterbury, Wellington, West Coast, Manawatu, Nelson and Central Otago. The playoff matches will commence on Thursday with the final ending a week of hectic action on Saturday, starting at 2.15pm.

The full draw for a Wairarapa squad which has been in outstanding form in lead-up matches is: Sunday, v South Canterbury at 11am, v Auckland at 5.15pm; Monday, v Thames Valley at 1.30pm; Tuesday, v Buller at 12.45pm; Wednesday, v Tauranga at 12.45pm.

Two former Wairarapa senior reps Grant Brewster and Kerry Hare are coaching the Wairarapa team which is: Morgan Taylor, Michael Brewster, Adam Moloney, Gus Wakeling, Matthew Furkert, Guy Percy, Henry Phelps, Wills Taylor, Mitch Hooper, Nathan Whiteman, Rory Thomson, George Robinson, Will McMaster, Alex Hare and Josh Tatham.