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'I've been thinking about this moment for a long time': Turn of the 'JMac' as Wales welcomes Johnny McNicholl to Six Nations stage
‘GMac’ enjoyed memorable sporting success in Wales – but it could be the turn of ‘JMac’ when the 2020 Six Nations kicks off on Saturday.
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Chants of ‘GMac, GMac’ rang around the Usk Valley in 2010 when golfer Graeme McDowell holed the winning putt at Celtic Manor to seal Ryder Cup success for Europe against the United States.
More than nine years on, JMac – Wales wing Johnny McNicholl’s nickname – takes centre stage by making his test debut against Principality Stadium opponents Italy.
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He has already sampled Cardiff’s big-match atmosphere, scoring a try when Wales beat the Barbarians 43-33 in a non-cap fixture two months ago.
But 29-year-old McNicholl, who qualifies for Wales on residency, now has a chance to impress in the Six Nations arena after only arriving from New Zealand in 2016 following a Super Rugby stint with the Canterbury-based Crusaders.
“I had the long-term goal when I came over here to play for Wales,” he said.
“I didn’t announce it publicly, I kept my goals to myself until the time came. But, yes, I’ve been thinking about this moment for a long time.”
England are intent on tearing into France after Eddie Jones stuck by his pledge to unleash “brutal physicality” in Paris. #SixNations https://t.co/Cg0n3H61S2
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 31, 2020
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McNicholl has been reunited in the Wales camp with new head coach Wayne Pivac, his former boss at the Scarlets, and a major career move from New Zealand’s South Island to West Wales has proved a dream switch.
“If you look at the Scarlets, when they put their first team out the quality from numbers one to 23 is class,” McNicholl added.
“So I knew I wasn’t taking a step down in rugby. It was international players all over the park, so we had that conversation and it was always a goal to qualify for Wales.
“I was playing with loads of the (Wales) boys like Liam Williams and Leigh Halfpenny (at the Scarlets), so I knew what work ethic it took to get to this place.
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“Those boys are on the field for hours after training, working on the little things, so I did follow them in that respect.
“But I just focused on myself and growing as a player, and I had that goal, and every week I just wanted to make myself better. So when the time came to qualifying, I was ready to be here.
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“He (Pivac) has been in my corner for the last three years, and it was nice that he began coaching Wales just as I qualified because he knows what I can do and he knows what I’ve done for him in the past and he trusts me.
“I just like to have the ball in my hands. I like to offload, I like to step and create breaks for people, not only myself. Breaking tackles, making line breaks is what I hopefully will bring to this team.
“At the Scarlets, at home and now with Wales, we’ve all played a similar brand of rugby throughout my career. It hasn’t changed too much.
“All the teams I’ve played for play the try-scoring way. We don’t play for penalties, we play for tries to keep the scoreboard ticking over.”
McNicholl also has fond memories of the Principality Stadium, particularly his first visit as a fan when Wales beat Japan 33-30 in 2016 thanks to an 80th-minute Sam Davies drop goal.
“It was pretty dramatic,” he said. “It was a draw right up until that Sam Davies drop goal.
“I fell in love with the stadium at that moment. I was in the top of the stand, and I still had this beautiful view of what was going on down there.
“Seeing Sam knock over that drop goal to win the game was great, and after experiencing that as a fan, I can’t wait to get out there.”
– Press Association
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Comments on RugbyPass
Dagg is still trying to get enough headlines to make himself relevant enough to get a job. The Crusaders went back to square one at all levels. Shelve this season and nail the next one.
4 Go to commentsHe was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
3 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
37 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to comments