By LIZ PROCTOR, BEN STRANG and KIMBERLEY CRAYTON-BROWN
FORTY-FIVE rugby players battling it out for places in the NZ under 20s World Cup squad have been given a different kind of challenge.
Rather than competing on the rugby field, the 18 and 19-year-olds have been in Tongariro National Park doing activities far outside their comfort zone.
A high ropes course, rafting and abseiling are some of the challenges the squad have completed while staying at the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre.
These are the first obstacles the squad must overcome in the selection process.
They have a series of more conventional camps before the final 26 players are selected to tour Argentina in 2010.
The NewsWire team followed the squad throughout the week.
