NZ Rugby World October/November 2021

jim@nzrugbyworld.co.nz WHADDARYA? WHAT ARE YOU? It’s the question asked by the title character in the final scene of former All Blacks trialist Greg McGee’s seminal play, Foreskin’s Lament. And what you definitely weren’t then, with the play set in 1976 and first performed in 1980, was gay. Rugby was a man’s game, not played by girls and certainly too tough for queers. The champion Black Ferns have ridiculed the “girls can’t play” attitude and they are also a shining example of inclusivity where cultures are celebrated and being gay is a non-issue. But to be a gay man in rugby remains so rare that there is, and has been, no professional rugby playing man who is gay. That’s not to say there aren’t gay men who play professionally, but they certainly aren’t open about it. In fact, Chiefs…

‘WOODMAN HAD STARTED DRINKING A BIT; NOTHING EXCESSIVE, JUST A COUPLE OF GLASSES A NIGHT. BUT IT HAD BECOME EVERY NIGHT.’ Every Olympic medal comes with a story. Often, we throw around words like “sacrifice” and “fairytale” but when Portia Woodman looks at her medal, that hard earned Tokyo gold, she thinks of pride and growth. The pride for what she overcame to even be on the Olympic start line after two years of injuries and rehabilitation. Growth for the person she has become and for what she still wants to achieve. While having the hottest property in world rugby sitting on the sidelines for two years may have had promoters of the women’s game in despair, little changed from a results perspective for the Black Ferns Sevens. As they continued to fashion an…

It takes a great to know a great. Sir John Kirwan believes Portia Woodman has it all; agility, power, pace and balance. “Pre-injury two years ago, she was the best winger in the world, male or female,” he says. “You get a lot of people with power, a lot with pace, a lot with agility but you don’t often get the whole package and that’s what she brings. Her timing’s really good when she steps or swerves, timing is fundamental.” Kirwan says. When he watches sport Kirwan doesn’t see gender - he looks for ability and that’s why he had Woodman as the best winger going in 2018. The man seen as one of our greatest ever believes returning to and staying at the top gets tougher as a player’s career progresses. “Across professional…

What shapes as the biggest year in the history of women’s rugby in New Zealand is also a giant jigsaw of moving parts for coaches, players and administrators alike. How to accommodate three pinnacle events, a new professional competition and players who want to compete across both sevens and 15s is a happy headache to have, one the pioneers of the women’s game could have only dreamed of. But it’s a delicate proposition when player welfare, workload, contracting and payments are taken into consideration, not to mention that New Zealand is hosting one of those events and is defending champion in all three. There’s also a tricky balance of accommodating the full-time, fully professional sevens squad members weighed against the progression and development of those who are solely 15s players. Sevens gold medalists…

Brad Weber is used to being told he’s too small to play rugby. He’s had it all his life and has even had professional coaches tell him he’s not big enough for the rough and tumble of elite rugby. This is the same Weber who has played almost 200 first class games including 98 for the Chiefs and who is vying with TJ Pernara as the starting halfback for the All Blacks in the Rugby Championship. Sure he’s only 175cm tall - 5ft 8inches in the old measure - and he tips the scales at 75kgs, which is 20kgs lighter than Justin Marshall was, but Weber is more than capable of footing it with rugby’s big boys. And he’s not alone as a small man playing an increasingly big man’s game. Damian McKenzie is a…

Timing is everything and David Havili wouldn’t change a thing. Well, almost. “I’d probably skip swallowing that toothpick though,” he admits. More on that later. Havili’s on the Northern tour with the All Blacks, as a second five-eight, but the road to get there wasn’t an easy one for the former fullback. He recalls a 110kg centre by the name of George Moala running at him full noise when Tasman took on Auckland in the NPC in 2014. It was a rude awakening for the 20-year-old who was 89kgs dripping wet. He was getting “smashed” on a regular basis and thought “this is probably not for me in the midfield”. Coach Leon MacDonald agreed, pulling Havili aside and telling him he was too small to be a midfielder. “So you’ve got to figure out…