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The newest member of the Maori All Blacks' sudden rise from club rugby loose forward to international prop
It wasn’t long ago that Ollie Norris made a decision that changed the trajectory of his career.
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Having spent his formative years playing in the loose forwards, Norris had some wisdom dropped on him by Chiefs player identification manager Kent Currie.
“I had played a couple of games of prop at school but was still floating around the No 8 role at the time,” Norris told RugbyPass.
“Then Kent told me that if I stayed in the loose forwards, I could become a club rugby legend and play 100 games at No 8. Or, I could play Super Rugby at prop.
“I told him to screw off for a bit but I ended up loving it. That was in 2018 so I’ve only done three years of propping so far but it’s a good free license to eat what I want for a few years and run a few kegs.”
Now, following his first fully contracted season with the Chiefs, the 21-year-old has been named in the Maori All Blacks squad for their upcoming series with Samoa.
It’s been a quick rise for the 21-year-old, who was born in Sydney to a Kiwi mother and an Australian father, but moved to New Zealand at a young age and completed his schooling at St Peter’s College in Cambridge.
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After finishing his schooling in 2017, Norris spent two years with the New Zealand Under 20s and first cracked the Waikato Mitre 10 Cup team in 2019, despite originally being told his core jobs as a prop weren’t yet up to standard.
“They told me I wasn’t ready to scrum that early on,” Norris said. “That kind of pushed me and motivated me to get better. Then I was lucky enough to get my opportunity through injuries.”
Norris played a handful of games for Waikato over the past two seasons and made his debut for the Chiefs later in last year’s campaign before coming onboard as a full-time squad member this season.
“I was just expecting to cover every couple of weeks but actually played every game apart from a couple so I’ve been pretty happy,
he said of the just-completed season. “I’ve been bloody enjoying it and I’ve been learning so much. It’s a step up from Mitre 10 Cup footy.
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“Every year is a big step up, to be fair. Super Rugby was a massive jump but I was pretty lucky to be involved in the 2020 season so I had a couple of glimpses of what it would be like.”
Maori All Blacks head coach Clayton McMillan has named a 25-man squad ahead of next month's two tests against Manu Samoa in New Zealand. #MaoriAllBlackshttps://t.co/05xTeaOH9s
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 15, 2021
Norris finished the season with 10 appearances to his name – 11 of them from the bench, and supported the likes of fellow props Aidan Ross, Angus Ta’avao and Reuben O’Neill, who all had strong seasons for the Super Rugby Aotearoa finalists.
“It’s awesome having those older guys, they’re helpful as,” Norris said. “Especially because they know I’m young and new to propping. They’re always giving me pointers and I’m chewing their ear off in training – they give me a bit of rough up and certainly have a go at me too.
“When I first started playing prop and scrummaging, I was taught a few lessons by some of the older boys. It’s really technical. When I was a loose forward I always thought ‘Oh the big boys will just push straight and whoever’s strongest wins’ but there’s so much of a technical side to it.”
Speaking following his selection, Norris admitted he’d not had any expectations of a call up to the Maori All Blacks this year.
“I’m still buzzing eh? I’m still super pumped for it. Still excited for it. I wasn’t really expecting a phone call and yesterday when I got it, I was pretty stoked. It’s going to be awesome representing my whanau and friends back home. I’m pretty excited for it.”
He also elected the player he’s most looking forward to playing alongside: “Probably Ash Dixon. He’s got a lot of mana and has been around the tracks for quite a while. It’ll be awesome to hopefully get in the front row him and link shoulders with him.”
Norris isn’t the only former loose forward selected in the front row for the Maori All Blacks, with 20-year-old Crusaders behemoth Tamaiti Williams also set to earn some minutes for the representative side.
Both players are excellent and mobile around the park – a product of their many years spent popping up alongside the fleet-footed characters in the backline.
Norris, in particular, is more than happy to chalk up some metres with ball-in-hand when called upon.
“I love carrying the ball,” he told RugbyPass. “I don’t do as much of it now with being a prop but certainly still have the skillset from back when I was at No 8. I’m just involved in lineouts now, not running in the backline!”
The Maori All Blacks are set to play two matches against Samoa this season – the first in Wellington on June 26 and the second at Mount Smart in Auckland on July 3.
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Sometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
9 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
9 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
9 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
9 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
9 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
41 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
1 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
3 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to comments