One of Australia's most promising schoolboy rugby players has been snapped up by the Crusaders.

Campbell Parata, an 18-year-old first-five who plays for The Southport School on the Gold Coast, is returning to New Zealand after landing a place in the Nelson branch of the Crusaders Academy.

He has also signed a two-year development contract with the Tasman Rugby Union.

"How it works for us that we're part of the Crusaders Academy - Canterbury and Tasman - and the Crusaders recruit long-term," Tasman chief executive Tony Lewis said. "We've got scouts all over the country and all over Australia as there's lots of Kiwi-born players there.

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"[Parata] came on the radar and indicated to various people that he'd like to come back to New Zealand, which got the Crusaders interested and they did their due diligence and then came to us. We try to share the talent evenly and the general consensus was this would be a good place for him to develop over the next two-three years."

Born in New Zealand, Parata moved to Western Australia with his parents when he was just four.

He then shifted across to Queensland after being scouted by The Southport School, whose alumni includes Wallabies Mat Rogers, Nathan Sharpe, Scott Higginbottam and James Slipper as well as golfer Adam Scott.

Starring performance for his school and for the Australia Schools Barbarians side caught the attention of Rugby Australia, who were eyeing him up for under-20 selection.

However, Parata's dream has always been to return to New Zealand where he hopes to emulate his heroes Dan Carter and Richie Mo'unga by playing for the Crusaders and All Blacks.

"I grew up watching Dan Carter as my favourite player but now it's Richie Mo'unga for his all-round game, that crazy running and kicking," Parata told The Courier Mail.

"It was always the plan that I go back to NZ, it's going to be exciting and the NZ Under-20s is one of my goals."

Recent graduates of the Crusaders Academy include All Blacks David Havili and Shannon Frizell.