OUTSTANDING Port Stephens rugby half back prospect Bastiaan Osborne-Zorbas is bound for Sydney.
The 18-year-old Nelson Bay Gropers junior will play for the Warringah club this season in the NSW Rugby Under 20s Shute Shield Colts competition after impressing talent scouts.
The number nine, Osborne-Zorbas turned in classy performances for the Hunter Wildfires junior representative squad last season and Nelson Bay club in the Hunter Junior Rugby Under 18s competition.
Zorbas, who recently completed his Higher School Certificate at Tomaree High School, has acquired a job on the Newport Marina slipway and will turn out for the Rats during the 2026 season.
He will be joined in the Colts ranks by his Nelson Bay Gropers team-mate Liam Pietraszak, 18, who has linked with the West Harbour club.
Zorbas starred for the triumphant Wildfires team that lifted the NSW Country Junior Championship trophy and finished runners up to Randwick at the 2025 State Junior Rugby Championships at Concord.
He was identified as an “exciting talent” by Warringah’s Colts Co-ordinator Luke Wilson and jumped at the opportunity to play for the Rats in the Sydney-based Under 20s Shute Shield competition.
Zorbas showed early potential with the Nelson Bay Juniors from Under 8s to Under 13s as a dashing fullback and five-eighth before spending two seasons with the Southern Beaches club in the Hunter Junior Rugby series.
He attended Hunter Sports High School from Year 7 to Year 9 before playing a season of soccer with Nelson Bay FC as a talented midfielder in the Under 16s competition.
That twelve month soccer stint shaped Bastiaan’s rugby career with the mercurial half back stamping his mark these past two seasons in the 15 per side code.
Zorbas was instrumental in the Gropers’ capturing the Hunter Junior Rugby Under 18s premiership during 2024 and has just returned with last year’s squad from a seven day tour of Vanuatu.
By Chris KARAS
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