Otago players to make All Blacks debut

Otago Daily Times

2 days ago

A Dutchman and a Demon will fulfil long-held dreams and make it a special night for Otago when the All Blacks play France tomorrow night.
Otago players Fabian Holland (and Christian Lio-Willie) were yesterday named in the All Blacks test team to play France at Forsyth Barr Stadium tomorrow night. It will ) be the first time in 13 years two Otago players have been in an All Blacks starting lineup. PHOTOS: GERARD O'BRIEN
Lock Fabian Holland and No 8 Christian Lio-Willie will make their debuts in starting roles in the first test at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
Not since 2012, when the great Ben Smith and Adam Thomson played against Scotland, has Otago had two players in an All Blacks starting XV.
For both men, it will be the high point of an intriguing rugby journey.
Highlanders star Holland, 22, will become the first Dutch-born All Black when he lines up at lock alongside captain Scott Barrett.
The lad from Castricum, a small village near Amsterdam, who grew up obsessed with New Zealand rugby and slept between sheets with silver ferns on them, will have proud family members and lots of friends in his adopted city cheering for him.
Holland, the ninth All Black from the Dunedin club, was "pretty excited", All Blacks coach Scott Robertson said yesterday.
"From Zealand to New Zealand, he's come a long way. It's a great story.
"He's pretty single-minded — to make that call to come over and represent another country in the game he loves — and he saw the All Blacks as the ultimate.
"It's movie sort of stuff, isn't it?"
Lio-Willie, who won the Super Rugby title with the Crusaders less than two weeks ago but is an Otago NPC regular, could write his own movie.
Christian Lio-Willie.
The qualified dentist has grafted away for years and, at 26, will become the 15th All Black from the Kaikorai club.
He had "slotted straight in", Robertson said.
Two other new caps, Chiefs prop Ollie Norris and Hurricanes flanker Du'Plessis Kirifi, will debut from the bench.
After a day off on Wednesday, the All Blacks had their first training session at the stadium yesterday, and will have the traditional captain's run this afternoon.
Various players are involved in running skills sessions at the Edgar Centre and King's High School this morning, while a bunch will be at the Wall Street Mall to meet fans between 10.15am and 11.30am.
The French team arrived in Dunedin last night after spending the week in Auckland.