Kiwi Ferns duo renew coaching partnership for Sidekick Chartered Accountants Canterbury Bulls 18s Boys’ NYT campaign
Head coach Sommer Te Kahu and assistant coach Charntay Poko are preparing to guide the Sidekick Chartered Accountants Canterbury Bulls 18s Boys team into the 2026 NZRL National Youth Tournament, which gets underway in Auckland on Sunday.
The squad originally selected featured 11 members of the Te Kahu-coached Canterbury Bulls 16s Boys that earned a third-place finish in last year’s NYT at Ngā Puna Wai, beating Auckland Vulcans 30-16 in the playoff after being edged in the semis by heavyweights Akarana Falcons.
There’s also two survivors from the Canterbury Bulls 18s Boys team that claimed a historic title 12 months ago. That triumph left a substantial legacy to follow for this year’s team, but they are concentrating on forging their own path.
“We’re just really focused on what this group can do in 2026,” Te Kahu says.
“We’ve got a bunch of different players with different strengths and our own identity. So for us, it’s about just about representing Canterbury well, representing our families well and playing the style of footy that we want to play and focus on ourselves.
“If we put our focus in the right places, that’ll be reflected in how we represent the Bulls jersey.
“[The 18s Boys] did an outstanding job last year, it was a special bunch of boys that won that title.
“But we just have to focus on this group because we are a fairly new team … one goal at a time, one game at a time.”
Meanwhile, former Kiwi Ferns Te Kahu and Poko – who continue their association from the 16 Boys’ 2025 campaign – are firmly establishing themselves in the still male-dominated rugby league coaching arena.
“With Charntay coaching alongside me this year, we’re definitely aware that we’re two females in this space and it’s not the norm,” explains Kiwi Fern #35 Te Kahu, who represented New Zealand from 1998-2002.
“So we really lean on each other to bring out our experiences and our strengths towards the boys, towards the team and our campaign. And I feel like the boys really respond well to us as well.
“We don’t see it as a negative ever – and the response we had from other coaches last year was really positive, which was really quite cool.
“Hopefully it sort of opens the door or encourages more females to be able to come into that space – even female teams, there’s still a lot of guys that are coaching those rep girls.”
Poko, Kiwi Fern #145, played for New Zealand in 2019 and featured in the Warriors’ NRLW campaign that year.
The versatile playmaker represented the Trillo Metals Women’s Canterbury Bulls as recently as last year, while – despite not planning to – she played Super Rugby Aupiki for Matatū earlier this season and is currently involved in Canterbury’s Farah Palmer Cup foray.
Poko also took another significant step on her coaching journey in 2026, taking on an assistant role for the Sean Spooner-coached Riccarton Knights side that made it all the way to the CRL Whitehead Plumbing and Gas Men’s Premierhsip grand final.
“That was quite refreshing, actually, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, to be honest,” Poko says of becoming involved in the premier men’s space.
“It was a different world, I guess, but I think what helps is that most of the men in that team know what footy is all about and know the basic fundamentals, so there’s not much coaching around that sort of stuff.
“It’s more or less coming up with a gameplan that suits the team, then being able to deliver that and give confidence to our players to be able to put that out on the field.
“Obviously there’s not many female coaches going around as a whole, let alone in the men’s space. But if we can just maybe get around some of these coaches, especially our current women’s players that are maybe on the back-end of their playing careers and want to jump into the coaching space, it’s a cool opportunity. I believe it also makes you a better player as well when you’re coaching on the side.
“If we can normalise that a bit, that’d be awesome. It was a little bit weird throughout the season when we’d come up against other teams and you see the whole coaching staff obviously of males – they look over to ours and they automatically assume that I’m maybe the manager.
“But they soon learnt who I was, heard about the things that I brought to the team, which was fantastic to hear. I can only do what I can do and deliver what I know and pass on the knowledge that I know.”
Poko’s experience this season with the Knights is set to provide a boost to the Sidekick Chartered Accountants Canterbury Bulls 18s Boys’ tournament prospects, while her synergy with Te Kahu ensures it’s been a seamless transition back into the age-group representative area.
“We think alike, we have lots of deep discussions and my coaching philosophy or my style is to really collaborate and draw from everyone’s strengths around us,” Te Kahu says.
“That’s also reaching out to the wider Canterbury community, so that’s no different this year – and having Poko involved with Super Rugby Aupiki for Matatū this year and playing FPC at the moment, she’s also got some new and relevant things that we can implement into our campaign and how we’ll run the team going forward.”
The Sidekick Chartered Accountants Canterbury Bulls 18s Boys kick off the NZRL National Youth Tournament at 1pm on Sunday against Northern Swords, while it’s a short turnaround to their second match against Manawatu at 4pm.
Their Pool A schedule continues on Monday with clashes against Wellington Orcas (10am) and Auckland Vulcans (1pm), before the semis and finals playoffs unfold on Tuesday.
Several members of the St Thomas’ of Canterbury College team that finished runners-up in the NZRL New Zealand Second Schools Tournament Boys Premiership and the Shirley Boys’ High School side that took out the Boys Championship will be backing up for another trip to Auckland.
Warriors quartet Hemiata Togia, Hoani-Manuera Kahukiwa, Christiano Elia and Lennox-Rua Limu-Franklin, and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs’ Kaci Heath – Te Kahu’s son – all bring experience from NRL pathways after featuring in the 2026 NSWRL Harold Matthews Cup.
While the immediate focus is on the tournament ahead, there’s also an opportunity for the team to lay a foundation for 2027.
“We’ve obviously got a young 18s team, so we’ve got boys that can return next year,” Poko explains.
“So it’s just about building and getting the boys as prepped as best as possible to be able to compete.
“In terms of next year, after this campaign we only lose about three or four players [due to] age group.
“Having two female coaches, we probably have a little bit of pressure on us coaching in the boys’ spaces. But we absolutely love the challenge. It helps that we’ve both come from high representative rugby league and obviously Sommer’s son is in the Bulldogs’ pathways and there’s a handful of other boys in our team that are in pathways teams too.
“So as I said earlier [regarding the Knights] it’s not necessarily much coaching in terms of fundamentals, it’s coming up with a game plan that suits our team and then being able to give the confidence to the boys to be able to put that out on the field.”
Meanwhile, the Canterbury Bulls 16s Boys and 16s Girls teams will also be at Bruce Pulman Park in Auckland competing at the NZRL National Youth Tournament from September 27-29.
SEE ALL DRAWS AND RESULTS HERE
SIDEKICK CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS CANTERBURY BULLS 18s BOYS
Sunday, September 27
1pm vs Northern Swords
4pm vs Manawatu
Monday, September 28
10am vs Wellington Orcas
1pm vs Auckland Vulcans
18s Boys semifinals and finals on Tuesday, September 29
CANTERBURY BULLS 16s BOYS
Sunday, September 27 (grading)
9am vs South Island Scorpions
3pm vs Coastline
16s Boys quarterfinals and semifinals on Monday, finals on Tuesday, September 29
CANTERBURY BULLS 16s GIRLS
Sunday, September 27 (grading)
1pm vs Wellington Orcas
4pm vs Counties Manukau Stingrays
16s Girls quarterfinals and semifinals on Monday, finals on Tuesday, September 29
