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Meet Crusaders' Irish prop who now wants to play for the All Blacks after growing up dreaming of facing the haka

(Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)

Meet Oliver Jager, the Irish-reared, English-born tighthead who at the age of 25 is dreaming about doing the haka for the All Blacks rather than facing it as Europeans traditionally do. 

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Despite coming through the Irish system and playing for Blackrock College, the famed alma mater of Brian O’Driscoll and so many other celebrated Ireland players, Jager’s wanderlust resulted in him attending the Crusaders international high-performance unit in 2013. 

He liked what he saw, stuck it out to see could he make the Crusaders academy, and now, all these years later he is a regular off the Super Rugby club’s bench and dreaming of an All Blacks debut having signed on for another two years in Christchurch. 

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Crusaders’ Irish prop Oliver Jager guests on The Lockdown, the RugbyPass pandemic interview series

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    Crusaders’ Irish prop Oliver Jager guests on The Lockdown, the RugbyPass pandemic interview series

    His story is quite the rugby reversal. So often in the past, the narrative has been of New Zealanders who have taken themselves to European clubs and went on to represent countries they have qualified for via World Rugby’s residency rules. 

    Now, the boot is firmly on the other foot as front row forward Jager, who took on the 2017 Lions as part of the New Zealand Provincial Barbarians in Whangarei, has his sights set on grabbing the No3 Crusaders shirt off Michael Alaalatoa and working his way into the mind of new All Blacks coach Ian Foster.  

    Speaking in a life and times interview on RugbyPass, the promising prop told Jim Hamilton about his hopes and dreams of representing the All Blacks and getting to perform the haka. “It would be pretty bloody cool,” he said. “The funny thing about it is you grow up wanting to face the haka and I grew up the exact same way. In the northern hemisphere facing the haka is something you always dream of. 

    “Just to be able to be in the position where I have a chance – whether it be a big chance, a small chance, it doesn’t matter – I feel like I have a small chance in order to actually do the haka, that is something special. That is something I want to drive for and if you are a player and you’re not trying to play for the best team in the game or make you the best player in the game, you are doing the wrong thing. That is what I see myself wanting to do.”

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    Quizzed on his national allegiance, Jager had no hesitation explaining his aspirations of representing the All Blacks. “I have just signed on two years here with the Crusaders and I’m really gunning on first of all cementing the No3 jersey at Crusaders because that is my main goal at the moment. 

    “Obviously with Mike (Alaalatoa) here it’s fantastic competition, it will only make us both better players. I find it definitely makes myself a better player and I hope that me pushing behind him makes him a better player too. At the moment my sole focus is to play Crusaders and make the No3 jersey mine. For the future, I definitely would love to see myself playing in a black jersey. It would be something real cool. 

    “Obviously being from Ireland, born in England, growing up in the northern hemisphere you hear of everyone coming up from the southern hemisphere to England, Ireland. Everyone in the northern hemisphere has had a couple of players play up there, the Bundee Akis, the (Riki) Fluteys, all those players. 

    “You never hear really the other way around and it’s a pretty cool thing to be able to have the chance of doing it – but doing it is a whole other story.  I feel like I need to get a lot better, really focus my game a lot more. But at the moment to answer your question, I would probably like to see myself as an All Black ahead of Ireland.”

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    J
    JW 1 hour ago
    Where is the new breed of All Black 10?

    Maybe Covid-19 did us some favours after all

    NZR and Australia had a great opportunity to dump Super Rugby and reset with a more sustainable future, but unfortunately they only had eyes on getting back to playing asap, ditto the South Africans with their departure for the immediate salvation in URC. How ironic, to try to continue it on only to have it ripped up, with your squandered chance at something new gone.

    You might look at the guys that have shown a lot of loyalty to us [like Richie]

    No, that’s a bad edit. Why does it need to be a lot of loyalty though? If Richie had of won a RWC for New Zealand surely that would make up for a lack of loyalty in this regard? Of course Mo’unga had said goodbye long before that but Beauden Barrett had also, and he got offered a sabbatical deal to return despite no longer technically being on NZRs books. I guess the elephant here is that Richie accepted a 3 year deal, but that’s what the JRLO teams want, not 1 year, not even 2 years. Why does it have to be about his All Black status that determines loyalty as well? Why can’t any NZ player be given a sabbatical after 8 full SR seasons, and still be able to hold onto that dream if they find themselves flourishing in an overseas environment?

    The All Blacks’ brand has to be seen to be ultimate sporting success story to attract and sustain sponsorship, which spools the debate all the way back to selection policy and Razor’s ability to pick players plying their trade abroad.

    We’ll see if you understand your oxymoron here. No, no other side of the coin presented, not even a cursory to those you know who’ll post lol The reason the brand has been such a success is put solely down to the selection policy, how are you going to change the opinion on that? I don’t think it’s possible, I can see change when they give up trying. Thankfully that looks a long way off and a return to number one immanent for this ‘last hope’ of a rugby stronghold.

    Jacomb was on the field for the first 51 minutes, D-Mac played the full 80. During the time with Jacomb at 10 and McKenzie at 15, the Chiefs were losing 6-14.

    What were the stats then though? That’s what I’d like to know.

    Mo’unga may be on sabbatical in Japan, but absence has if anything increased his importance to New Zealand rugby

    Unfortunately JRLO made some changes to their content protection this year, unsure why, so no, his absences has unfortunately morphed into obscurity. Thankfully Rugby Pass TV has come to the table and given one game a week to NZ viewers if anyone is interested (myself it kinda came too late in the piece).


    Please to see Jacomb get through his third start with such aplomb. Another tight game this week so perhaps another tight performance needed by him again. The Chiefs have lost their second starting fullback so Dmac might be asked to continue in the position for a while yet.

    6 Go to comments
    J
    JW 2 hours ago
    Super Rugby rolls back the years but challenges lie ahead

    There is no appetite – either in New Zealand and Australia or Japan – to recreate a separate team like the Sunwolves to sit as a sole representative in Super Rugby.

    If theres no appetite, why are you suggesting it?


    Any JRLO involvement is a long way off were SR looses its place, and is only a equivalent of the Champions Cup. Which if happened, would still be a general overall win.


    Any inclusion of the Jaguares would also require a recalibration of that tournament. Argentina would not be able to field a strong team by themselves (without changing Los Pumas eligibility again, which we don’t want them to do), it needs the full support of Super Rugby Americas, a competition which runs from Feb to Jun as well. I suppose it really depends how many stars UAR could bring back home, Jaquares have been brought back, so maybe they do have an aim, but would they accept hosting their games out of Santiago (just an hr further than Tokyo)?


    One thing I could see change is SRP moving to finish in Oct.


    Edit: The Sunwolves brand is pretty much Brave Lupus now I’d imagine so this team would need a new name, and I still see Tokyo as being the best place economically to place a new team, but would SRA and MLR get together to share a team their if they don’t have the players to do it individually? It just seems a waste of brand expenditure just for these unions to dip their foot into SR. Perhaps it’s a Hawaiian team?

    3 Go to comments
    S
    Stacy K Davis 4 hours ago
    Crusaders prepare for 'dangerous in all elements' Chiefs game-breaker

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