The somewhat unlikely England back row that inspired Cameron Woki
James Haskell is rarely lost for words but discovering that he is the player rising French star Cameron Woki name-checked as his role model left the former England flanker dumfounded.
Woki has been in sensational form for France who will attempt to win their first Grand Slam for 12 years against England at the Stade de France on Saturday which is in the Saint-Denis area of Paris where the 23 year-old was born.
The Bordeaux Begles forward has been pressed into national service in the second row although his high flying Top14 club side play him in the back row and it is a measure of Woki’s all-round rugby talent that he has formed an effective double act with South African bruiser Paul Willemse in the engine room of a French scrum that will be targeted by England following their impressive showing against Ireland.
Haskell, who played for Stade Francais in Paris in a career that also took him to Japan and New Zealand while accumulating 77 England caps, has been mightily impressed by Woki in the Six Nations championship. Woki picked the former England flanker when asked at 18 on a Bordeaux supporters’ website to name the player he most admired he replied: “I love James Haskell’s style of play.”
Haskell, who is expecting his first child with wife Chloe in August, said: “No one has ever listed me as a role model or liked my style of play so I instantly love Cameron Woki. For a player of his standard to say that is the biggest compliment I could receive. He is a fantastic player with his size, speed, athleticism and physicality and has been awesome for France and I love his diversity as well.
“He plays 6 and 7 for his club and the only piece of advice I would ever give him is get the Hell out of the second row! The beauty of it is he can switch roles and it goes to show it is much more about the balance of the side than shirt numbers. He played in the back row at U20 level and while I would love him to move into the 6 or 7, the French have a winning formula and he is brilliant for them.
“To be in the engine room, he is obviously very powerful and he is also a line out forward and has a great off-loading game and has been a stand out performer. From all of those players from that French U20 side which beat England, like Romain Ntamack, Demba Bamba, Julien Marchand and Jean-Baptiste Gros, he could develop into the best of all of them. He can become a real danger in a French side that is the best in the world.”
Woki was marked for rugby greatness after scoring a try to help France defeat an England team featuring Marcus Smith 33-25 to win their first World Rugby U20 title in 2018. Now four years later the pair will meet again with another major title on the line for the French.
Woki is a creation of the remarkable rugby “factory” that is the Massy club in Paris which has also produced in quick succession Yacouba Camara, Sekou Macalou, Judicaël Cancoriet and it was no surprise that Top14 contracts were put on the table. Bordeaux won the race to sign Woki and that brought him into close contact with former World Cup winning England flanker Joe Worsley who was the club’s defence coach, and for a short period their head coach, during a seven-year association.
Worsley took up the defence role with Castres in 2019 and believes the tough time Wales gave France at the line out in Cardiff where Les Bleus struggled to win 13-9, will ensure Woki takes his frustration out on England. “Cameron was calling the lineouts against Wales,” explained Worsley. “He wouldn’t have been happy with his performance against Wales and when you do get the line out throw right there are not many players in the world who can take it off him. That kind of ability is gold dust but calling the line out is a big job and maybe that is an area where he needs to do more work on what is another skill.
“His older brother is even bigger than Cameron but not as explosive but he is around 115kg and 120kgs and that is pretty big and he is not the kind of player to use his weight to smash through opponents and hit rucks which he can do. He is much more about speed and footwork and having a great game sense to create breaks. I am not sure he is a second row and in France they don’t think of the back row in terms of if you are a 6 or 7, it is about the aerial threat you bring.
“Racing normally have first dips on players from Massy but Bordeaux managed to get hold of Cameron and he is a fantastic player and I could tell from day one that he was a real talent who is so easy to lift in the line out. His handling and speed were also there from the start and like a lot of youngsters he had to learn about working hard and did that to become the player we see now.
“At first it was would Woki change his mind set and take advice from other players and he did and has a real hunger. It was pretty clear that he would be playing test rugby sooner rather than later.
“France are not the finished article by a country mile and the Ireland and Wales games could have gone the other way and despite the depth of talent there are still some issues -but the potential is huge. There is a big margin of development for France which is both pleasing and scary. The team is moving towards the World Cup in France in 2023 and winning the Grand Slam would be a step on the way. Having nearly thrown it away against Wales I cannot see them repeating that against England.”
And what does Worsley think about Haskell, his former Wasps teammate, being named checked by Woki? “I can tell you that Cameron never mentioned Hask to me. Maybe he was referring to Hask’s play in the bars and nightclubs of Paris.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
43 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
2 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
43 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
43 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
2 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
6 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
6 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to comments