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‘Setting the standard’: Australian halfback's praise for All Black Cam Roigard
The new year had only recently got underway when All Black Cam Roigard made a headline-grabbing statement during an All Blacks camp. In early January, the Hurricanes No. 9 let his actions do the talking as he sent a message to halfback rivals around the world.
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In the All Blacks’ first camp without legendary scrum-half Aaron Smith, and with new coach Scott Robetson watching on, Roigard stole the show in a world-renowned fitness test.
The Bronco is an increasingly popular fitness test used by athletes, coaches and sports teams all around the world. Those who are brave enough to take on the gruelling 1.2-kilometre fitness test head-on must run 20, 40 and 60-metre shuttle runs five times each without stopping.
Roigard did that in just four minutes and 12 seconds. That’s fast.
The 23-year-old beat runner-up Damian McKenzie to take out the title as the All Blacks’ fittest player at that stage of pre-season. The halfback also equalled veteran Beauden Barrett’s longstanding record from four years ago.
On both sides of the Tasman, Roigard’s efforts haven’t gone unnoticed, either. Chiefs halfback Cortez Ratima and All Blacks Sevens star Sam Dickson were both full of praise for Roigard as they spoke with RugbyPass about the staggering Bronco time.
Let’s add Waratahs halfback Teddy Wilson to that list.
Wilson, who captained the Junior Wallabies to two victories over the New Zealand U20s last year, believes the four-Test All Black has raised the bar for all halfbacks around the world.
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“He’s setting the standard for all halfbacks around the world now,” Wilson told RugbyPass on Monday.
“Running, what was it a 4:12 Bronco time? That’s ridiculous fast and he’s not a particularly small halfback either, he’s pretty built.
“For him to be moving at that speed is something I definitely now want to try and strive for. We do the annual Bronco test as well here.
“If I can get anywhere near that in the next couple of years, you’d be doing pretty well. I think that’s definitely something to strive for.”
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Halfbacks have to be able to pass – it’s the backbone of their position. But that doesn’t matter if a No. 9 is unable to keep up with the pace of play by getting to the breakdown in the first place.
Early in the Waratahs’ tough pre-season last year, the team ran a Bronco without any of their Wallabies.
Wilson won it.
At just 20 years of age, the halfback ran a time of 4:30. But about four months on, Wilson wondered how much quicker he’d be running the Bronco now – and there’s another one coming for the Tahs at some stage, but the players don’t know when yet.
“We did one… it would’ve been back in October last year, I got a 4:30. Decent but we haven’t done our second one yet,” Wilson said.
“Hopefully after a whole pre-season, I could’ve shaved a bit of time off that. It would be interesting to see what I would be running at the moment.
“I’m actually not sure when we’re running our next one.
“I was the quickest,” he added. “The Wallaby boys were still away, there were a few boys injured that didn’t do it so from the backs there was about probably only eight or nine of us that ran it that day and I think I was the only halfback.
“I was lucky enough to win it then but I don’t know if I’d be winning it now, we’ll see after the pre-season.”
For anyone who watched the Junior Wallabies in 2023, you’ll be more than aware of the threat Teddy Wilson poses around the field. Boasting impressive passing and running games, the rising star could be a genuine talent within Australian rugby for the years to come.
But let’s just take a step back.
Wilson is still only 20 years old and the Waratahs’ captain Jake Gordon seems to have a pretty solid grip on the starting No. 9 jersey. But a chance to impress off the bench is there for the taking.
Wilson, who was included as a development player in the Australia A squad to take on a Japan XV in 2022, is embracing the opportunity to learn as much as possible from the Tahs skipper.
“It’s tough when Jake’s got the captaincy and he’s a great player and he’s got a huge impact on this team,” he added.
“I sort of look at it as a positive, though. I’m learning off him every day. Jake’s very approachable, he’s always willing to help so I think it’s great to have him here in this position.
“I’m still only 20 so I’m still learning a lot every day I come in. To have a bloke like him in front of me, he’s a great person to have there.
“I’m hoping to just get picked consistency this year, it would just be a goal of mine to play consistent footy.
“Hopefully if I can get some good minutes off the bench or wherever it may be, if I do get an opportunity to start I’ll be grateful for anything that comes my way.
“I think the main thing for me is just playing consistent footy for the Waratahs. I’ve only played seven-odd games of Super Rugby so more experience out there is probably the biggest thing for me this year.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Just came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
5 Go to commentsA great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
5 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
5 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
5 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
3 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
3 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
228 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
4 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
90 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
19 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
30 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
1 Go to commentsABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
228 Go to comments