'Speedway first, rugby second': How racing helped emerging All Blacks star's rugby journey

It’s been a rapid rise for Cam Roigard, the 22-year-old made his All Blacks debut during this year’s Rugby Championship and now finds himself making a compelling case for a spot in the 21 jersey for this weekend’s quarter-final.

Roigard landed a spot in the New Zealand team ahead of the likes of Brad Weber, who was fresh off a dominant season with the Chiefs, and Aaron Smith’s aspiring understudy at the Highlanders, Folau Fakatava.

It was Roigard’s impressive triple-threat skillset that raised eyebrows in Super Rugby Pacific, a booming left boot and sniping running game were two areas where he outshone his competition, finishing the tournament top three in offloads along with nine tries. The passing was also more than up to scratch.

The young Hurricanes halfback earned his call-up as a World Cup bolter, one of three All Blacks rookies to make Ian Foster’s Rugby World Cup squad, and has subsequently earned two starts at the tournament.

Just five Tests into his international career, he may well be named in the All Blacks’ biggest Test in four years.

“Obviously, I’m loving it,” he told The Front Row Daily Show. “It’s obviously happened pretty quickly, eight months ago or a year ago even, I wouldn’t really think I would have been here.

“I had goals and stuff at the start of the year and they probably seemed a little bit unrealistic at the time, but it was something to strive for and keep pushing towards and I’m pretty grateful that I have been able to tick some of those off as the year’s gone on. To be here now preparing for a quarter-final is pretty cool.”

Head-to-Head

Last 5 Meetings

Wins

2

Draws

0

Wins

3

Average Points scored

21

22

First try wins

60%

Home team wins

0%

Ireland awaits in the pivotal Paris clash, having defeated the All Blacks twice last year in a historic three-game series that wrapped up with a decider in Roigard’s home Sky Stadium in Wellington.

Having watched that match from afar, Roigard has no experience playing against the world’s No 1 team.

What he does have, is driving experience. Growing up in a speedway family, Roigard says his experience in racing has helped his vision on the rugby field.

“I grew into it, Dad raced for years and it was sort of just a part of growing up really. It was speedway first, rugby second. Or, rugby in winter, speedway in the summer.

“It’s quite interesting, when we’re in Ministock which is the kids’ class, you sort of have to use your peripheral vision to avoid crashes and feel who’s around you and stuff and I suppose on the field it’s a little bit similar. If you’ve got a line break or someone’s coming behind you, you sort of feel where your support is and stuff like that.”

Once rugby prevailed as Roigard’s preferred sport, he was faced with a tough decision. Competition in his home region of Waikato was fierce, and there was one young star who was always ahead of him.

“I went to St Peter’s Cambridge and was in the Waikato pre-academy, which is for year 12 and 13. There wasn’t really much of an opportunity at Waikato for the academy, and Counties (Manukau) showed interest so I thought that was my best opportunity to get potential game time. So, made the decision to go up there.

“There was Cortez (Ratima), who’s my age. He was probably the top one in Waikato.

“It was quite funny, it got talked about, playing club rugby in Waikato that they wanted us playing against each other, not in the same club and I thought about that from an NPC perspective, I don’t want to be stuck behind these guys in the academy or in NPC, I’d rather be somewhere else and play against them to try to prove myself.”