Rising Hawke's Bay mentor Mark Ozich will coach the Highlanders at New Zealand Rugby's new Super Rugby under-20s championship, an event that will mark a significant change to the age-grade program at the national level.
The tournament will be held in Taupō in April and effectively double as a trial for New Zealand under-20 selection.
Although the World Rugby Under 20 Championship that was due to be held in Italy in June and July has been cancelled, it is still hoped that an Oceania tournament will happen this year.
Ozich's involvement with the Highlanders follows an outstanding campaign with the Magpies in 2020, when he bolstered his reputation as a coach on the rise.
Ozich has been closely involved in the development of promising Highlanders halfback Folau Fakatava – coaching him at first Hastings Boys’ High School and then at Hawke’s Bay – and the role with the Highlanders under-20s hints at a longer-term position with the club.
Tony Brown will be head coach until the end of the 2022 season and assistant Clarke Dermody is being groomed to replace him, but Brown's departure to focus on Japan's 2023 Rugby World Cup campaign will open up a position in the Highlanders coaching setup.
In the shorter-term, the under-20s Super Rugby tournament will give all five Super Rugby clubs a clear development pathway for their promising younger players.
For the New Zealand under-20 program, it should give players more exposure to quality coaching, training and opposition after some underwhelming recent years at the World Rugby Under 20 Championship level.
After dominating the tournament in its early editions, New Zealand have won it only twice since 2012 and have not produced a World Rugby Junior Player of the Year since Julian Savea in 2010.
Former under-20 coach Craig Philpott lamented the fact that New Zealand’s rivals, particularly the northern hemisphere nations, were better prepared at the under-20 level.
"The struggle that we have is that are playing against teams who are generally better conditioned athletes," Philpott told Stuff in 2019.
"They've been in full-time professional programs in some cases for up to three years.
"Our guys at best are often one year, so there is often a physical strength conditioning difference, but we've just got to able to adapt our game at this level and still keep what's special about New Zealand rugby."
That gap should be narrowed somewhat by the Super Rugby under-20s competition, particularly as some players will already have had a taste of what full-time professionalism looks like.
For example, Otago flanker Sean Withy is not part of the Highlanders' Super Rugby squad but spent the preseason training in Dunedin.
The Super Rugby under-20s championship does not spell the end of Jock Hobbs under-19 tournament for provincial unions, although Stuff understands it may be held under a different format.