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Getting to know: Baby Blacks U20s forward Will Stodart

(Photo by Liam Heagney)

It has so far not been a vintage Junior World Championship for New Zealand, as they only scrapped past Wales – the bottom team in the 2023 age-grade Six Nations – by a single point before enduring a 21-point hammering from the more physical France in a 35-14 rain-affected loss.

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The Baby Blacks still retain an outside hope of making the semi-finals as the best runner-up from the three pools in South Africa; they go into Tuesday’s match in Stellenbosch against Rob Penney’s Japan knowing that a huge win to improve their currently negative points difference, allied to results in the other two groups going their way, can still lever them into the knockout stages.

Will Stodart was a starter in Clark Laidlaw’s team in the 27-26 win against the Welsh, and he then came off their bench against the French. RugbyPass met him at the New Zealand team hotel in Cape Town, learning that he really rates his tackling, speaks highly of Liam Squire, and why “just going bone on bone” is his favourite type of training drill.

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We gave U20 New Zealand rugby players cameras and let them do whatever they want | Fuel Me

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We gave U20 New Zealand rugby players cameras and let them do whatever they want | Fuel Me

THE BASICS
Born: October 3, 2003;
Joined New Zealand age-grade: Last year, 2022. We played Western Province for our first game in Stellenbosch;
Club: Otago (development contract PDC);
Position: Loose forward;
Boots: adidas Predator;
Gumshield: I got it from a dentist in Dunedin;
Headgear: I tried it once, but it was no good for me. I got too hot.
School: St Andrew’s College, Christchurch.

RATE YOURSELF (out of 100)
Pace: 70;
Passing: 75;
Tackling: 80.

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THE PAST
My favourite New Zealand player of all time is… Liam Squire.

Favourite try I have ever scored is… Probably against St Thomas in year 13, a great comeback win at school. I just took it off the back of a maul and ran over the top of someone and scored. The whole school got behind us and it was pretty cool.

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The moment I realised I could make it… I am still in that stage the last couple of years but it’s starting to get a bit more realistic this last year and a half.

A rugby memory that makes me smile is… Winning the UC championship, the local competition that St Andrews, my old school, used to compete in. That was in year 12, my first year in the school. That always brings a good smile.

One piece of advice I would give to my younger self is… Keep persisting. Just keep doing what I was always doing, keep my head down and work and not get too worried about what other people are achieving. Just keep taking it in your own time.

My best subject in school was… PE.

Growing up, my position was… No8.

The coach who has most impacted my game is… That’s a good question. Good question. My high school coach Ian Robinson.

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THE PRESENT
My favourite rising rugby player is…Peter Lakai, one of the boys in the U20s team. He is pretty awesome to watch in the same environment at the moment, watching him grow.

My best attributes on the field are… My ball carrying, physicality. I pride myself on them.

One thing I’m doing to improve my education is… I am currently studying for a bachelor of science at the University of Otago, majoring in sports science and sports management. I’m working hard on that off the field.

My favourite current New Zealand player is… Scott Barrett.

My favourite YouTuber is… Hamish & Andy.

My hardest working teammate is… Jack Taylor.

My most skilful teammate is… Taha Kemara.

My favourite training drill is… Anything that is hitting bodies, just going bone on bone. Physicality, I suppose.

My favourite music artist is… There are a few. I’ll say Drake.

THE FUTURE
A player who could go all the way is… Peter Lakai.

If I could play with anyone, I would like to play with… Probably Jack Taylor.

I will be happy with my career if I… Feel as if I have given it everything I have got, just put my head down and work and whatever comes from that, I will be more than happy with it.

I want to make a difference by… Just being myself.

If I could get a degree in anything I would choose… I’d be stoked if I could tick off the bachelor of science I am currently studying for.

I would be a better player if I… Just keep trusting my own ability.

If I could play in any other country, I would play in… Ireland would be pretty cool.

One person I want to meet is… LeBron James.

One trophy I would love to win is… Junior World Cup would be pretty cool.

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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