New Zealand's European-born duo complete unlikely journeys to test rugby

Nov 5 : New Zealand internationals Fabian Holland and Anton Segner return to Europe this month for the Nations Championship after remarkably similar journeys into test rugby from unexpected origins.

Dutch-born Holland, 24, and German Segner, 25, are both part of the All Blacks squad for their Nations Championship clashes against Scotland, Wales and England this month and the final weekend at Twickenham from November 27-29, having taken an extraordinary path to the pinnacle of the sport.

Both moved to New Zealand as teenagers to further their fledgling rugby careers from countries where the game has little visibility and professional opportunities are severely limited.

They were both All Blacks fans - Segner practising the haka at his home in Frankfurt and Holland's mother taking her 10-year-old son to Murrayfield to watch the All Blacks in November 2012 where the Dutch-born winger Tim Visser scored two tries for the home side in a 51-22 defeat. 

"He was my inspiration by showing that you didn't have to play for the Netherlands if you were Dutch-born," said Holland, who started playing rugby at the age of six in his home town Akersloot in the north of the Netherlands.

New Zealand are back in Edinburgh this Saturday to take on Scotland at the start of the month-long Nations Championship fixtures.

TRANSFIXED BY ALL BLACKS AURA

Holland was transfixed by the All Blacks: “Their aura, what they stand for and how they play,” he recalled.

Seeking to expand his career, at 16 he asked to attend Christchurch Boys’ High, some 19,000km from home, for six months to absorb the rugby culture at a school that has produced a myriad of internationals, not least Dan Carter.

His size, skill set and pace impressed and six months became two years. After that, he earned a contract with the Otago Highlanders, eventually debuting for the All Blacks last year and being named World Rugby’s Men's 15s Breakthrough Player of the Year. 

Segner had been dropped from junior football, but shone in the youth teams of rugby club SC 1880 Frankfurt and his Kiwi coach, ex-professional Tim Manawatu, secured him a scholarship in 2017 in Nelson, where he became first XV captain.

"Like every other German kid, I grew up playing football until I was nine years old," Segner said.

CONTACT SPORT

"One day after school, I went around to the house of two English friends and they were, like, ‘we should go play rugby in the backyard?’ Once I figured out that you were able to hit people legally, I fell in love with the contact side of the sport."

He also moved rapidly up the professional ranks in New Zealand once his schooling was done, happy to be stuck in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Auckland Blues coach Leon MacDonald credited Segner with "all the physical attributes, the skills with the ball and, above all, an outstanding work ethic" when he signed him. In July Segner made his debut as a replacement against Italy in Wellington.

Now both could become an inspiration for kids of a similar background over the next month as the All Blacks seek to become the inaugural winners of the new Nations Championship.  

(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Toby Davis)