Rugby: Daniel Baldwin's team to play this weekend despite teammate's death

Daniel Baldwin. Photo / Supplied.

The teammates of the late Daniel Baldwin have voted to play this weekend's scheduled fixture despite the passing of the Wellington teenager this morning.

And teams across the region will pay their own tributes to Baldwin, with the Hurricanes expected to observe a minute's silence, before their Super Rugby home clash with the Cheetahs at Westpac Stadium on Saturday.

Wellington senior club teams will also be asked to wear black armbands out of respect for Baldwin and his family.

Baldwin displayed concussion symptoms and left the field near the end of a colts age-group game between his Wellington Rugby Football Club and Paremata Plimmerton at Ngati Toa Domain on Saturday, and his condition deteriorated rapidly.

He was rushed to Wellington Hospital, where he underwent brain surgery on Saturday night and spent the days since in an induced coma. Baldwin, 19, died last night, with his family - parents Len and Eva, and brothers Stefan and Markus - girlfriend, and other family and friends in attendance.

Speaking to Radio Sport's D'Arcy Waldegrave today, club president and long serving sports broadcaster Keith Quinn said that although it has been a sad time for both Baldwin's family and the Wellington club, Baldwin's teammates had decided to go forth with their upcoming match this weekend.

"The boys involved in the team where Daniel played, they voted to play again this Saturday," Quinn said.

"So that's remarkable, the spirit of that team. I hope they'll see it as a mark of the spirit of our long-standing club."

Quinn noted that the messages of support he had received from rival clubs across Wellington since news broke of Baldwin's death was "uplifting".

"It is very sad. I'm just at my place and fielding calls from all over the place," he said.

"Most significantly, I should mention, is calls from other clubs. I've had five or six guys from other clubs call me.

"I had a call and a long chat with the referee from the game. Reverend Father Barry Scannell from the local church here [is] on the board of Marist St Pat's, he called me to say they'd been saying prayers at their board meeting last night.

"So while it is a tremendous time of sadness, there's a pulling together around this, which has been quite uplifting to know there's all of those people from other clubs - and of course my own club, the Wellington club - have been calling in.

"It shows that although there might be rivalries on the field on every Saturday when the whistle blows, off the field we're a sports community and we pull together and feel the loss of one of our own."

Baldwin's under-21 colts side will play the Avalon Wolves at Fraser Park at 1pm this Saturday.