Te Rangi Touches Down in the Heartland

South East Melbourne Phoenix recruit Reuben Te Rangi has touched down in Melbourne and joined team practice for the first time since signing with the club in July.

The New Zealand Tall Blacks star travelled from New Zealand to Sydney with his partner for two weeks of strict quarantine before arriving in Melbourne last Friday and spending his first day at the club on Monday.

Te Rangi has kept busy across the ditch since finishing NBL20 with Brisbane, leading Canterbury to the semi-finals of the New Zealand NBL in August before making the move to the Heartland.

Phoenix Head Coach Simon Mitchell says the two-time NBL champion passed his fitness tests well on Monday and will be eased into pre-season training with the team.

After a period of uncertainty regarding travel and living arrangements, Te Rangi was happy to return to a sense of normality.

“The travel was pretty interesting, the airports were pretty much empty,” Te Rangi said. “We were pretty lucky for the quarantine, we got a nice room and got looked after so the 14 days went pretty quickly for us.”

“It was good to get back on the court and get a few shots up but the lungs definitely need a bit of work.

“It was interesting because the whole COVID-19 routine we have to go through and all the checks, signing in, washing our hands, all those things were a bit weird but it was definitely good to get back on court and meet all the fellas.

“I met everyone. It was good to get back into a team environment and have a bit of fun. They all seem pretty funny, joking around and having a laugh. It’ll be good, I’ll slide in easily.

“These first two weeks it’ll probably be easing me into getting back on court, just trying to get the lungs going and get the body up to scratch. Hopefully after the two weeks I can build a little bit more and just keep building from there.”

Te Rangi will be joined by fellow Tall Black and long-time friend Izayah Mauriohooho- Le’afa at the Phoenix in early November, who’s just signed as a development player.

(Te Rangi in action for New Zealand against Jordan)

The pair remarkably played on the same New Zealand national team in 2013 at age 16 (Mauriohooho-Le’afa) and 18 (Te Rangi) respectively before Le’afa started his college career.

Te Rangi went on to win two titles at the New Zealand Breakers and the NBL’s most improved player and sixth man of the year awards at the Brisbane Bullets, while Mauriohooho-Le’afa carved out an impressive four-year college career as a starting guard at Sacramento State.

“He’s a great player and also a great person. We’re really good friends,” Te Rangi said.

“He’s a little nugget, nice and strong, plays defence and can score the ball as well. I faced him in New Zealand recently and he scored 40 points on the team I was playing for.”

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Sam Bunn for Phoenix Media (29/09/2020)