'Little bit of stick’: The All Black who once crossed enemy lines
The last week of international rugby has been a bit bizarre. With just two weeks to go until the opening match of the World Cup, there’s been an unusual amount of talk about nationalism.
Earlier this week, a stunning report from The Sydney Morning Herald sent shockwaves throughout the rugby community. Former All Blacks coach Sir Steve Hansen had crossed enemy lines.
Veteran Dane Coles was visibly shocked when a reporter told him about the bombshell coaching news, and New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins joked about revoking Hansen’s citizenship.
There was plenty of chatter online about the two-time World Cup winners’ decision to link up with Eddie Jones at the Wallabies, but in truth, it was blown out of proportion.
Hansen, who was knighted in August 2020 after a decorated coaching career with the All Blacks, explained to Newstalk ZB that he’d only be in Wallabies camp “for about three to four days.”
The former All Blacks Head Coach is a mate of Wallabies boss Eddie Jones, and was called into camp as a favour. It was nothing more than that – far from the full-time position that many All Blacks fans feared.
But in the wake of these reports, a couple of All Blacks with Australian ties have flown under the radar. Props Ethan de Groot and Tyrel Lomax were both eligible to play for Australia before donning the black jersey.
De Groot was born on the Gold Coast in Queensland, and Lomax spent the first four years of his life in Canberra. But both are All Blacks, and they’re genuinely world-class.
But if things had gone a little bit differently, as they almost did for Lomax, then they could’ve been pulling on Wallaby gold at the upcoming World Cup.
“I don’t know about a Wallaby-in-waiting but it’s been thrown around a little bit,” Lomax told reporters after being asked about Steve Hansen’s update.
“(Ethan de) Groot is another one who was born in Australia and we get a little bit of stick for it but not too much.”
Lomax’s father played professional rugby league in Australia, but the family ended up moving across the ditch. The future All Black had a childhood dream of playing international league for the Kiwis.
But the Lomax family moved back to Australia when Tyrel was a teenager. Tyrel’s brother had signed on to play rugby league across the ditch.
Lomax played a bit of league too, but ended up finding his feet in the 15-player game. The front rower missed out on Australian Schoolboys selection, but later starred for the Junior Wallabies.
The future All Black was even named the Australian U20s Player of the Year.
After bursting onto the Super Rugby scene with the Melbourne Rebels, Lomax was called into Wallabies camp by coach Michael Cheika.
Lomax didn’t play a Test for Australia, but did pose for photos in Wallaby gold.
“There was sort of that little bit of pressure,” Lomax told RugbyPass earlier this year.
“I’d been called into that Wallabies camp and it sort of made me have to make my decision a little bit quicker, I couldn’t keep saying, ‘Oh, I’m not too sure who I want to play for.’
“I had to make a decision and it was about where I wanted to play my career for the next 10 or so years and I just felt that was in New Zealand, closer to my family.
“I was just looking at the bigger picture. My Dad played for the Kiwis and that was my dream as a kid.
“I always like I was a Kiwi in Australia, I always just felt like New Zealand was my home.
“Had an opportunity to go into a Wallabies camp where I took that photo in a Wallabies jersey which was a bit strange but it was my first real crack at Super Rugby over there and it just happened pretty quickly.
“That photo got taken and it felt a bit strange wearing that jersey because I always thought of myself as a Kiwi that wanted to play for New Zealand.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Let’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to comments