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The German teenager who wants to play for the All Blacks - and how he could have played for one of NZ's biggest rivals

By Online Editors
(Photo by Evan Barnes/Getty Images)

Since the first official All Blacks side took to the field when they toured New South Wales back in 1884, a total of 1190 players have come through the ranks to don the famous black jersey.

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Of those almost 1200 players, many were born abroad, hailing from places like Australia, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, England, Scotland, Ireland and South Africa, as well as minnow rugby nations such as Singapore, India and Hong Kong.

None, however, have been born in Germany, but rising teenage star Anton Segner is hoping to break that mould in the coming years.

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The 19-year-old loose forward is beginning to make his mark on the New Zealand rugby scene, three years after moving to the country for what initially intended to be a six-month stay at Nelson College.

Encouraged to make the move to the other side of the world by his former coach in Germany and current Tasman development officer Tim Manawatu, Segner made the school’s 1st XV, a feat which he has previously described as unexpected.

His on-field exploits have exploded since then, with Segner going on to captain his school to a UC Championship title last year, adding to the back-to-back New Zealand Schools selections he earned in 2018 and 2019.

All of that culminated in the Tasman Mako, the reigning Mitre 10 Cup champions, offering the youngster a two-year deal straight out of school, which led to Segner’s provincial debut against Southland little more than a week ago.

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The building blocks are in place, it seems, for the talented back-rower to eventually achieve his long-term goal of playing for the All Blacks, a side he’d rather play for than his native Germany, a team placed 30th on the World Rugby rankings

Speaking to the What a Lad podcast, hosted by injured Hurricanes and Tasman utility back James Marshall, Segner said the status of the All Blacks makes the side much more appealing to play for than his homeland.

“Definitely New Zealand. All Blacks over the German national team, just because the German national team isn’t that flash yet,” he said when asked which country he would rather represent.

“I like to say ‘yet’ because I hope the sport’s going to grow over there, but my end goal is to be the best athlete I can be, and if being an All Black is part of that journey, then that’s awesome, that’d be cool.”

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While All Blacks selection could still be some way off from coming to fruition, Segner has already had the honour of representing New Zealand at age-grade level.

Picked for the 2018 Schools team as a Year 12 student, Segner teamed up with future Mitre 10 Cup prospects – like Niko Jones, Rivez Reihana, Sam Darry and Isaiah Punivai – to topple Tonga Schools, Australia Schools Barbarians and Australia Schools.

The following year, Segner joined current Mitre 10 Cup rookies Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepens, Ruben Love, Aidan Morgan and Gideon Wrampling to pick up a win over Fiji U18s, although they lost to Australia Schools for the first time since 2012.

Nevertheless, the experience of wearing the silver fern and performing the haka was something Segner relished given he had dreamed of doing that ever since he was a child growing up in Frankfurt.

“When I was nine-years-old, when I first started playing rugby, I watched the highlights of the 2011 World Cup,” the 1.92m, 108kg flanker, who also represented Germany at U16 level, told the What a Lad podcast.

“We watched the haka with Piri Weepu leading it and I was like, ‘Man, that’d be awesome to do that one day’.

“Tim Manawatu always went on about how cool it is to do the haka and how it gets you hyped up for the game.

“Doing it in 2018 for the first time with the New Zealand Schools team was unreal.”

He may have to wait longer than anticipated to do it again, though, as a residency rule has denied him the chance to play for the New Zealand U20 side.

“In 2017, the rule was you have to have lived within the country for three years, and each year you’re not allowed to leave the country for longer than six weeks,” Segner said.

“At the end of 2017, I didn’t even think that the Tasman Mako or New Zealand Schools or U20s was even a dream for me, so I didn’t really worry about it.

“I went back to Germany for about half a year to finish off my schooling, so my first year didn’t count at all.

“Another thing that happened was that while I was in Germany, between my first year and my second year in New Zealand, they changed that rule to five years, so I came back here, did my first counted year in New Zealand.

“I just know that it’s [his eligibility for New Zealand will come] just after I turn 21, but that’s when I’m too old, so U20s has been ruled out for me, unfortunately, but I’m still lucky enough that they want me to take part in all the camps and stuff, so that’s cool.”

Had fate taken a different path, Segner might have faced off against New Zealand rather than play for them at age-grade level.

While plying his trade in Germany during his youth, the teenager’s talents were noted by Premiership scouts while on a club tour of England about five years ago.

An expression of interest from London Irish may well have steered Segner towards the white jersey and red rose of England further down the track, but he opted to take the advice of his coaches to move to New Zealand instead.

“With my old club, 1880 Frankfurt, we went there in U14s, so I was about 13 or 14-years-old,” he told Marshall.

“We went over there, and it was quite funny because we usually try to go on an overseas tour there once a year.

“Those teams, they wouldn’t expect us to be that good, but since we were fortunate enough to have Kiwi coaches come over, we were quite well coached and they were surprised by how good we were and we usually ended up beating most of those teams.

“That year we went to London Irish and they said, ‘Look, we like the way you play and we see a bright future in you and we’re interested in having you take part in our academy’, but I was like, ‘Nah’.

“The coaches over there [in Germany], they convinced me of New Zealand, so I was set on New Zealand – flights were booked and everything.”

Subsequently, Segner looks on track to push for Super Rugby honours – even with only two Mitre 10 Cup caps to his name – especially after being invited to pre-season training with the Crusaders by head coach Scott Robertson earlier this year.

Given their status as four-time reigning Super Rugby champions, it comes as no surprise that Segner, a member of the Crusaders academy and a former Crusaders U18 representative, listed them as his preferred franchise to play for.

He’ll take what he can get in that regard, however, as he aims to check off yet another accomplishment in a growing list of career goals that few players from New Zealand could ever achieve.

“Just try and get as much game time as possible with the Mako here and get a Super Rugby gig somewhere,” he said of what lies ahead for his rugby-playing future.

“Now that I’ve got Mitre 10 Cup [experience], hopefully I’ll be playing in that a bit more, then the next step is Super Rugby, so soon as possible, really.”

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Jon 2 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

35 Go to comments
j
john 4 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

15 Go to comments
A
Adrian 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

15 Go to comments
T
Trevor 9 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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