Deputy head boy at St Peter’s College. NZ Schools pivot. Royal Wolf Tertiary Rugby scholar. Grammar TEC premier club captain. Leading pointscorer at the Jock Hobbs Memorial National Under 19 tournament. Now starting No 10 for Auckland.

It has been some 12 months in the life of Harry Plummer.

Now 19, the five-eighths will make his third appearance, and starting debut, for the union tonight in the crunch Premiership clash with Canterbury at Eden Park. It will cap a hectic last month.

“It’s definitely been hectic, that’s one word to describe it. But it’s exciting and I’m loving my rugby. This is only the start of things, I hope.”

Plummer, son of Auckland physio Mark Plummer, operated mainly at second five for the Auckland Under 19s, who claimed the Graham Mourie Cup in Taupo. His 10-12 partnership with Wiseguy Faiane, who has also worn the Auckland No 10 jersey this year, bore fruit.

“We had a pretty good team in the 19s and we had a lot of boys who came from 1A rugby last season. Everyone had either played with or against each other, so we were confident going in. But I found that the form I had in the 19s gave me a lot more confidence coming into this set-up to do some good things. That’s testament to some of the good coaching we had from Hewey (Andrew Hewetson) and Dave Askew.”

Some familiar faces have helped Plummer assimilate without too many dramas into the Auckland set-up.

“The boys have been awesome. I’ve known people through dad’s profession and come into this team for a while, but the likes of TJ (Faiane) and Akira (Ioane) have been welcoming,” says Plummer.

Far from being daunted by tonight’s assignment, marking Richie Mo’unga, Plummer is embracing the challenge.

“I think it’s very exciting for me, coming in to play someone like Richie Mo’unga, who is probably on the fringes of the All Blacks,” he says.

“The boys themselves are still confident. It hasn’t been the best of seasons, but the positivity is still there.”

After tonight’s final whistle, Plummer will switch into commerce studies mode.

“It’s been a lot tougher juggling everything than I thought it would be, but I got all the major assignments out of the way and now it’s just end of year exams. It could get a bit more interesting next year, with a few more priorities. But for a first year of university, I’m pretty happy with how it’s going.”

Once those exams are done and dusted, Plummer will be able to turn to his major goal of the first half of 2018, New Zealand Under 20s selection.

Touch wood, he will be back running the cutter for Auckland in 2018. - Campbell Burnes