8 Dec 2014

Sport: Tongia settling into Super Rugby life

12:08 pm on 8 December 2014

Highlanders rookie Ryan Tongia says some familiar faces have been helping him settle into his new environment at Super Rugby's southern-most franchise.

The 24 year old will spend the next two years in Dunedin as a member of the teams wider training group, having been a star performer in the New Zealand provincial competition for Hawkes Bay.

Four Magpies teammates are also in the Highlanders squad, and the former Papua New Guinea rugby league international says they've been a big help as he adjusts to life in the deep south.

"Myself, Richard Buckman and Gareth Evans are all down here at the moment and we're just waiting on our two Maori All Black representatives in Brenton Edmonds and Ash Dixon to join us in the next few weeks so those guys have been great for me down here. [We've] obviously got that connection up at Hawke's Bay and it's been fantastic so far. They've introduced me [and] taken me around Dunedin. They're really helping me fit in quite well which is good".