The 17-year-old Kiwi rugby star who is breaking all the records!
- Publish Date
- Wednesday, 10 April 2019, 12:15PM
He weighs 95kg, runs 100 metres in 10.19 seconds — and is the fastest thing you are ever likely to see on a schoolboy rugby field.
Seventeen-year-old Edward Osei-Nketia, son of New Zealand record holder Gus Nketia, hit the headlines this weekend by winning the Australian senior 100m title in Sydney, and now New Zealand Rugby are showing interest.
The devastating winger is making waves on YouTube with rugby highlight reels showing Osei-Nketia leaving multiple defenders in his wake playing for St Edmund's College against Grammar.
Osei-Nketia, who has attended Scots College in Wellington on a scholarship this year, spent the eight previous years in Australia, where he first started sprinting.
With athletics federations on both sides of the ditch keen on his services following his eye-catching 10.19 seconds dash in Sydney on Saturday, Osei-Nketia's achievements have also attracted interest within rugby circles, having already paid a visit to New Zealand's rugby sevens set-up.
He is a rugby try scoring machine on the wing for his school, and the Hurricanes are reported to be interested. On athletics v rugby, Osei-Nketia is "weighing" both and will make a decision after leaving school.
"It would be hard to try for the Olympics and also train for rugby," he said.
Standing 1.90m and weighing 95kg, former Olympic Games sprinter Chris Donaldson told Stuff Osei-Nketia was an exceptional talent who had all the physical attributes to become a successful rugby player if he decided to make a permanent switch from the track.
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"Even by the token of his physical attributes, he's big and strong and he's obviously only going to get stronger so he could be an outstanding rugby player," Donaldson told Stuff.
"I'm not sure of the skills he has and that sort of stuff but in regards to his physical attributes he's got all those gifts that most people don't have to start with so it will be interesting to see what rugby want to do and the opportunities there.
"He's faster than anyone in world rugby at moment so I really want to see him play and see what he's like."
Osei-Nketia is expected to line up for Scots College's First XV next term.
This article was originally published by nzherald.co.nz and is reproduced here with permission