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New Zealand-born Johnny McNicholl feels welcome in Wales squad amid Willis Halaholo hostility claims
Johnny McNicholl says Wales supporters have welcomed him after fellow New Zealander Willis Halaholo lashed out at the “doubters, haters and people that don’t think I belong here”.
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Scarlets speedster McNicholl, who can operate at either wing or fullback, will make his Wales debut against the Barbarians in Cardiff on Saturday after qualifying through the three-year residency rule.
Halaholo was also in contention to debut in Wayne Pivac’s first game in charge before sustaining knee ligament damage playing for Cardiff Blues.
Halaholo took to Twitter after his injury to say: “All the doubters haters and people that don’t think I belong here u got your wish. U got 9months to get better especially the ones that think it’s ok for the other two Kiwi born to represent Wales but not me.”
Last message from me. All the doubters haters and people that don’t think I belong here u got your wish?? u got 9months to get better especially the ones that think it’s ok for the other two Kiwi born to represent Wales but not me ?
— Willis Halaholo (@whalaholo) November 26, 2019
That was a reference to McNicholl and Scarlets centre Hadleigh Parkes, who has won 25 caps since making his debut in 2017 and was a key part of Wales’ 2019 Grand Slam success and fourth-place finish at the recent World Cup.
Asked whether he had encountered any negative reaction on social media, McNicholl said: “I don’t use my Twitter account and no one has direct messaged me. So no negativity, no.
“I don’t listen to it because it’s only a small minority that are probably saying those things, and my advice would be to stay off social media.
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“A few people I’ve seen in the street have said ‘congratulations and go well’. So it (the reaction) has been very good.”
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Former Wales boss Warren Gatland, who is back in Cardiff to coach the Barbarians, suggested that players who qualify on residency would benefit from learning the national anthem.
Gatland, himself a New Zealander, feels that singing the anthem before kick-off ingratiates players with the Welsh public.
“I have been going hard with the anthem,” said McNicholl, who played Super Rugby for the Crusaders before switching to the Scarlets in 2016.
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“It is not a language that I know, so the pronunciation is very hard for me.
“But Steff Hughes (Scarlets teammate) has been very good in that department by writing it down how it is written in Welsh and then writing how I might say it in English.
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“That way it is a bit easier to learn and I am really looking forward to trying to belt it out on Saturday.
“I almost know it off by heart and the last line is all I have to nail down now. I should be done by game day.”
McNicholl revealed it was his intention to play for Wales after moving from New Zealand, although he did not announce that publicly until his initial two-and-a-half-year Scarlets deal was extended.
He says he loves the country – “I’ve got one daughter born here, one on the way and it feels like home” – but at the age of 29 he knows time is not on his side.
“I don’t have that luxury of waiting a couple of years and building my way into the team,” McNicholl said.
“I’ve got to show what I’m worth straight away… scoring tries, making breaks, making other people look good, making myself look good.”
– Press Association
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments