Vernon Bason: New Zealand U20 captain who scored twice to win a world championship bronze

On 19 July 2024, at Cape Town Stadium, the captain of New Zealand's under-20 side scored two tries as his team beat Ireland 38-24 to take bronze at the World Rugby U20 Championship. Vernon Bason, a hooker from Feilding by way of Tonga, had already led New Zealand in the opening game of the inaugural U20 Rugby Championship, which his side won unbeaten. Since then he has played 24 NPC games for Manawatū, made his Super Rugby debut in the Hurricanes' title-winning 2026 season and scored a try at home in Wellington. He is in the Hurricanes squad for 2027.

From Tonga to Feilding

Bason was born in Vava'u, Tonga, on 10 October 2004, according to the Hurricanes, and his family moved to New Zealand in 2007, Newsroom reported in May 2025. The Hurricanes list his villages as Mangia, Toula, Neiafu and Ofu. He grew up in the Manawatū and went to Feilding High School.

He is the eldest of three siblings who have made their names in rugby. His brother Mosese, a loose forward, has followed him into the Manawatū and New Zealand Under 20 teams, and his sister Taufa, who won a Super Rugby Aupiki title with the Blues in 2025, has been named in the Black Ferns squad. Newsroom described Vernon and Mosese as recent captains of the New Zealand Under 20s.

Feilding High School

The brothers played together in the Feilding High School First XV for two seasons, Manawatū Rugby reported. Nathan Williams, who began helping with the First XV in 2022, told Newsroom that both Vernon and Mosese were his captains and that both were selected for New Zealand Secondary Schools. The Hurricanes also list New Zealand Schools among his teams, and Wikipedia dates that selection to 2021.

In 2022, with Williams helping the side, Feilding won the Central North Island 1st XV championship for the first time, beating St John's College (Hamilton) 33-22 in the final, according to the competition's records.

"Vernon is one of the toughest players I've coached," Williams told Newsroom, adding that the hooker had "an immense threshold to take and dish out punishment".

College Old Boys and Manawatū

After school Bason joined the College Old Boys club in the Manawatū competition, which the Hurricanes and NZ Rugby History list as his club, and he played for the Hurricanes' under-20 side in 2023 and 2024.

He made his NPC debut for Manawatū in 2023 as an 18-year-old, the Hurricanes noted, playing five games, four of them off the bench. In 2024 he played 10 games, mostly as a replacement, and scored his first provincial try in the 77th minute of a 35-18 loss to Northland at Semenoff Stadium in Whangārei on 17 August 2024.

The 2025 season brought a bigger role, with seven starts in nine games, and two more tries. He scored in the 15th minute of a 29-22 loss to Southland at Rugby Park Stadium in Invercargill on 15 August 2025, and again in a 38-10 loss to Hawke's Bay at Central Energy Trust Arena in Palmerston North on 4 October 2025. That took him to 24 games and three tries for Manawatū. He was named in the Manawatū squad for 2026, but RugbyPass and Wikipedia's match records show no NPC appearances for him that season.

New Zealand Under 20

Bason was first picked for New Zealand Under 20 in June 2023, when Clark Laidlaw, who went on to coach him at the Hurricanes, named a 30-man squad for the World Rugby U20 Championship in South Africa. He played twice off the bench at that tournament, according to NZ Rugby History.

The 2024 season was his year. He captained the Hurricanes at the Super Rugby U20 tournament in Taupō, with Mosese, who was named player of the tournament, in his side. "It was good to be on the same pitch and be captained by him," Mosese told Manawatū Rugby.

Then came the first U20 Rugby Championship, at Sunshine Coast Stadium in Queensland. Head coach Jono Gibbes named Vernon to captain New Zealand in the opening match against South Africa on 2 May 2024, with Mosese among the reserves, and allblacks.com reported that he joined the captains of Argentina, Australia and South Africa for a photo on the Sunshine Coast before the first round. That game finished 13-13. New Zealand then beat Argentina 43-20 on 7 May 2024 and Australia 36-25 on 12 May 2024 to finish as the competition's first champions, unbeaten.

At the World Rugby U20 Championship in South Africa, Gibbes named Bason to captain the team from the front row for the opening match against Wales at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town, a 41-34 win on 29 June 2024. New Zealand also beat France 27-26 in Stellenbosch on 4 July 2024 and reached the semi-finals, where France won 55-31 at Cape Town Stadium on 14 July 2024.

In the bronze final against Ireland at Cape Town Stadium on 19 July 2024, Bason scored New Zealand's first try in the 38th minute and added a second in the 47th, and New Zealand won 38-24. NZ Rugby History records him as New Zealand Under 20 captain in 2024, with nine games and two tries for the side across two seasons, all seven of his 2024 games as the starting hooker.

Newsroom told one more story from that trip: four hours after landing back in Wellington, the Bason brothers were at work at 5.30am on the free-range egg farm in Bulls that employed them. "The Basons are a different breed," the farm's founder, Nathan Williams, said.

The Hurricanes

Bason spent 2025 in the Hurricanes' wider training group, and on 6 November 2025 the club announced that he had signed his first full contract, for the 2026 season, "after graduating through the club's development programme". He made his debut on 20 March 2026 against the Highlanders at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, replacing Asafo Aumua in the 66th minute of a 50-7 win. According to the Stat Attack column on clubrugby.nz, he became Hurricane number 330 and was the club's fifth debutant of 2026.

On 28 March 2026 he scored his first Super Rugby try in the 74th minute of a 52-14 win over the Queensland Reds at Hnry Stadium in Wellington. His first start came on 9 May 2026 against Moana Pasifika at North Harbour Stadium in Albany, and clubrugby.nz noted that he came straight from club rugby into the starting side. The Hurricanes won 50-17.

Those were his three appearances in a season that ended with the Hurricanes winning the title, their first in a decade, after a 60-5 win over the Chiefs in the final at Hnry Stadium in Wellington on 20 June 2026. RugbyPass's records show three games and one try for him.

Style and standing

Williams, his school coach, has spoken of his toughness and of a player who "pushes those others around him to be better". He has been trusted with leadership in age-grade rugby: Gibbes made him captain of New Zealand Under 20 at both of the side's 2024 tournaments, and he captained the Hurricanes' under-20 side the same year.

He has not played Test rugby for any country.

Looking to 2027

When the Hurricanes confirmed their 2027 squad on 28 October 2026, Bason was one of four hookers, alongside Asafo Aumua, Jacob Devery and Raymond Tuputupu. Players not with the All Blacks report for pre-season on 26 November 2026, as the club prepares to defend its title.

Career at a glance

Manawatū and New Zealand Under 20 figures are NZ Rugby History's (to 2025) and agree with RugbyPass. Super Rugby figures are RugbyPass's and match Wikipedia's try records.