The many talents and miraculous story of Blues lock Laghlan McWhannell
The household of Laghlan McWhannell was divided last week when the Blues played Moana Pasifika in Super Rugby Pacific at Eden Park.
McWhannell is flatmates with fellow Blues lock James Thomspon who didn’t feature and Moana Pasifika flanker Jacob Norris who started on the blindside for the hosts.
The trio attended St Peter’s Cambridge together and the banter was free-flowing.
“It’s their local derby. We could ill afford to underestimate these guys. They’ve got firepower across the park and they’ve been tracking quite well,” McWhannell told RugbyPass.
Moana Pasifika has doubled their win tally from last season. In 2023 they were denied victory against the Blues (31-30) when they conceded a penalty try with the last play of the game.
On Saturday the Blues had no such issues. A resounding 47-8 victory saw All Blacks winger Mark Telea score three tries and the Blues climb to second in the standings. Dishes and vanilla milkshakes the whole week is the flat penalty for Norris.
McWhannell has featured in all six matches for the Blues in 2024, gaining four consecutive starts. Last Saturday the Blues defeated the Crusaders 26-6 to improve to 4-1 and achieve their first win at Eden Park against the defending championships since 2014. The Crusaders failed to score a try for the first time in 145 matches.
“That was my first home game at Eden Park. That’s special for me, especially against the Crusaders who we’ve only beaten once in the last 19 games. Patrick Tuipulotu celebrated his century. It was an awesome day all around,” McWhannell enthused.
“I’m happy to finally string some games together. I’ve got an injury list as long as my arm. I love the environment in Auckland.”
McWhannell is the Blues’ most prolific source of lineout possession. His increasing physicality is adding greater starch to an improving Blues pack.
On a dreary Wednesday night in 2017, McWhannell made his NPC debut for Waikato against Auckland at Eden Park. He was 18 years old and marked All Black Tuipulotu. His parents presented his jersey and the visitors won 35-27.
The 2018 New Zealand Under 20 representative won the Ranfurly Shield later that year. In 2019 McWhannell was set to debut for the Chiefs after Michael Allardice broke his ankle against the Highlanders in Dunedin. That injury happened on the night of May 4. In a crushing coincidence, McWhannell suffered the same injury while playing club rugby for Hautapu that afternoon.
“I was tackled from behind and my ankle twisted inwards. I tapped it up but when I ran off the next scum I heard a pop and snap and tore ligaments off the bone. The Chiefs coach hadn’t heard about it when he called to offer me a place in the team. I was gone for six months,” McWhannell reflected.
In 2021 McWhannell was on the brink of quitting rugby altogether. He credits Waikato coach and former All Blacks lock Ross Fillipo with saving his career.
“Ross called me before the NPC in and asked me how I was feeling. I told him I can’t do this anymore.
“I’d finished my second knee surgery and the pain was insufferable, like having glass in my knees.
“Ross took all the pressure off me by asking me about my mental health. He assured me my well-being was a priority, not my place in his rugby ambitions. That was huge.
“I’d heard of guys having terrible injuries. I never thought that would be me.
“I’ve basically got a buggered patellar tendon. For a while, all my confidence was gone. I was worried about doing it in the warm-up, in the game, and even coming down the steps of the bus.
“I made my Super Rugby debut for the Chiefs against the Highlanders in Queenstown in 2022. It took four years for me to make my Super debut.”
The Chiefs won that match 26-16 and all six appearances in which McWhannell featured thereafter. Such long stints on the sideline, however, saw him tumble down the Chiefs pecking order.
McWhannell isn’t somebody to stay still. While injured he became a barista not because he drinks coffee but because he wanted to make a good hot chocolate. He pursued a dive master certificate, cooking classes, World Rugby coaching certificates, attended public speaking courses, worked for a charity, and developed a near Sir Elton John-like obsession with finding the perfect piano.
“I wanted to learn piano so I bought a secondhand one in Taupo. The night I picked that one up, I forgot to cancel an auto-bid for one I had on Trade Me in Auckland. Suddenly I had two pianos in the garage.
“Down the road in Cambridge I saw a piano I thought was better than the first two. I thought I’d get this one and sell the first two. Eventually, I settled with the first one.
“I don’t know how to play anything, Chopsticks maybe. Piano is one of those things if you don’t use it, you lose it, a bit like a rolling maul,” McWhannell laughed.
McWhannell was born and raised in Kawakawa Bay which he described as “tiny” and “somewhere halfway inside Thames and Waiheke Island.” His father Malcolm is a Piling Manager at Heron Construction which undertakes large design, logistics, and maintenance projects with water. Mum Julie maintains the books.
Boarding at St Peter’s Cambridge, which to an outsider could resemble Hogwarts, McWhannell threw himself full throttle into water polo, athletics, swimming, claybird shooting, and of course rugby. He played for the First XV from 2014 to 2016 which became a growing force nationally. In 2016 St Peter’s qualified for the National Top Four co-education tournament for the first time. The following two years St Peter’s won the tourney.
“Cam Rogiard, Samipeni Finau, Simon Packer, Ollie Norris, Jacob Norris, James Thompson, Ryan Coxon, there are a few guys who’ve made it lately,” McWhannell said.
“A lot of the credit for that belongs to the coach Shaun Honnick. He was especially helpful for me having played lock for Waikato and the Chiefs. He has a lot of knowledge to pass onto the young fellas who looked up to him because he’d been there and done that.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Getting rid of the Dupont Law is a good thing and ought to have been done months ago! Officially getting rid of the croc roll is a good thing. The law about no scrums from a short arm is well intended in terms of speeding the game up but it’s an overreaction to a clever yet calculated gamble that could have blow up in South Africa’s face if they conceded a penalty from the scrum that was set after Willemse took claimed the mark in the World Cup QF.
52 Go to commentsRassie The GOAT
7 Go to commentsOf their 5 big matches in RWC Scotland and NZ were the easiest. They took a 12-3 lead against NZ and after the red decided it was best to hold the lead and take chances that came. None came and it was tight but they dug a lot deeper in the other two knock out matches. They had trounced NZ in Twickenham in a fixture that NZ must now regret. Psychology was clearly with SA in the final as a result.
2 Go to commentsMy favourite line/exchanges from Chasing the Sun 2. News headline: “SA. The last hurdle in ABs World Cup glory”. Something like that. “You’re all just a hurdle. A hop, skip and a jump”. Coming from Rassie and Jacque. Basically - nobody thinks you’re going to win. You’re just a pushover team. Nobody respects you. When the camera shows the players faces, you can see the effect. You can see the rev meters (die moer metertjies) firing up. Mitchell said he felt it prior to the 19 final. He said to Eddie watching the teams warming up that it was going to be a tough day at the office. Wave a red flag in front of South African, and you can expect a reaction. This is not unique - many teams rev themselves. And Bok teams in particular. With horrific consequences (discipline, poor thinking under pressure) because that’s the drawback to using emotion right? But what this Bok team does better than many since 2007 is channel the emotion and stay on task. Despite the emotion. Why, because while Rassie might play mind games - he talks about creating a safe environment. Listen to his recent honorary doctorate acceptance speech. While he uses psychology he creates psychological safety. He’s a damn fine coach. Can’t wait for Pretoria. It’s going to be a hummer.
7 Go to commentsWhat Rassie does for SA is big. It has helped people to unite and see we can win with the right people in place.
7 Go to commentsTerrible conditions for young players to express themselves just enjoy it guys. As a saffa great to see Ausie youth looking good. Wow SA have some great talent also.
2 Go to commentsYes, another example of French tv directors ensuring that incidents like this are swiftly glossed over for the benefit of their teams…
1 Go to commentsThe prospect of the club match ups across hemispheres is surely appetising for everyone. The reality however, may prove to be slightly different. There are currently two significant driving forces that have delivered to same teams consistently to the latter champions cup stages for years now. The first of those is the yawning gap in finances, albeit delivered by different routes. In France it’s wealthy private owners operating with a higher salary cap by some distance compared to England. In Ireland it’s led by a combination of state tax relief support, private Leinster academy funding and IRFU control - the provincial budgets are not equal! This picture is not going to change anytime soon. The second factor is the EPCR competition rules. You don’t need a PhD. in advanced statistical analysis from oxbridge to see the massive advantage bestowed upon the home team through every ko round of the tournament. The SA teams will gain the opportunity for home ko ties in due course but that could actually polarise the issue even further, just look at their difficulties playing these ties in Europe and then reverse them for the opposition travelling to SA. Other than that, the picture here is unlikely to change either, with heavyweight vested interests controlling the agenda. So what does all this point to for the club world championship? Well the financial differential between the nh and sh teams is pretty clear. And the travel issues and sporting challenge for away teams are significantly exacerbated beyond those already seen in the EPCR tournaments. So while the prospect of those match ups may whet our rugby appetites, I’m very much still to be convinced the reality will live up to expectations…
1 Go to commentsThe manipulative and cynical Erasmus….
7 Go to commentsWe see you World Rugby….we see you🤡😏
52 Go to commentsBoks are lucky to have a player of the calibre of PSDT in their ranks😍
7 Go to commentsI really like what the boks have done with bringing Vermeulen into their coaching setup. Perhaps they would have gone to france anyway, but Lawes and Farrell could at least have been offered assistant coaching roles. Lawes could probably aptly fill the brief (breakdown, contact skills, and handling) just given to Strawbridge; and Farrell could be a pretty good like for like replacement for Sinfield when he leaves. I probably wouldn’t want them in the national team set up just yet, but it would be good to see strings pulled to either get May, Youngs, Cole, & Care player-coaching roles in the premiership, or to move them into the under 20s coaching staff.
2 Go to commentsSo spiteful that the Springboks won again, they just had to change the laws so that they would stand a chance.
52 Go to commentsWhy would Eben lie? The guy has achieved so much. He saw it as arrogance. Any normal person who plays against the ABs year in and year out would have the same thoughts. Why even talk about the final when you have the biggest game of your lives next week in a stage you have never gotten passed? Rugly is simple in SA. Have fun but the most important thing is respect. I’m not buying any of this misinterpreted nonsense. Eben isn’t English, but no one during that interview was asking what did he say? He's speaking and therefore his understanding is perfectly fine. It was an arrogant thing to say, esp for a team that has never been to a final, never mind a semi. You guys up north can interpret it in a different way if you wish, maybe that s why you don’t win the biggest tournaments.
154 Go to comments> with Sky TV in New Zealand saying it has seen an 11 per cent lift in overall viewership this year. It’s easy for these kiwi “journalists” to throw around meaningless numbers to make it seem that things are improving, but if you look at the stats behind this 11 percent it says that after 10 rounds of rugby there is only a paltry 160k cumulative viewers in total.. That is on average 16k viewers watching a single round of Super Rugby. I very much doubt any of the other numbers that Gregor so proudly “reports” on.
38 Go to commentsGoode is a Prop that played Flyhalf…. Who gives a Sh@#t what he thinks anyway!
154 Go to commentsOne would hope when a player of such caliber is approached for transfer is traversed a lot more carefully. The question I ask, “is the players agent raising red flags in the first instance of contact”. By what I read assumptions are made by nzr based on player welfare provided to them. So what is that? Is it a wholistic approach where family balance is taken into account. Because thay’s what’s in the mix when players go off shore. I realize the money is a huge factor but when negotiations are initiated is nzr involved. As Lendrum says having our best players available is paramount to our success So here’s hoping they are effectively communicating.
4 Go to commentsPSTD, I salute you.
7 Go to commentsWhy don't they just give up on scrums and lineouts, cut the number of players to 13, and call the game ‘rugby league’? These idiots are determined to destroy the game as we know it, and instead of ‘attracting youngsters to the game’ as Beaumont suggests, it’ll deter a lot of the less skilled, maybe overweight kids who it is perfect for. World Rugby is detestable. And as for the 20 minute ‘red’ - why not teach the players to tackle better? (Like the current tackle height trials are supposed to do, but will probably be squashed by the NZRU as usual). I despair for the union game, I really do.
52 Go to commentsHere’s hoping the emphasis on how the tmo interfaces on game infractions is taken into account more seriously than what was adjudicated during the 23 wc. That was a shambles, plus Barnes the abs ref never contested some of the calls, something he’s known for. And then we're left with wr opologizing after the game that smith’s try was legit. I was even more pizzed. And as for the red card if the infringement is clearly intentional foul then the individual is out of the game and after 20mins the bench replacement comes on. So, there’s then the degree of seriousness taken into account within the 20min stand down.
38 Go to comments