Perth-born Oliver Haig’s unique journey from Sussex to All Blacks XV

Oliver Haig speaks with a distinctly South English accent, so unique that he could have confused the All Blacks lineout calls at Twickenham this weekend.

The 22-year-old was born in Perth but raised in Sussex (Southeast England). The son of doctors migrated to Dunedin aged 14 and has rapidly risen in the New Zealand rugby system.

The Otago and Highlanders lock/loose forward was training with the All Blacks in Japan last week as injury cover for the increasingly fragile loose forward cohort.

This week he rejoined the All Blacks XV and will start at blindside flanker in their clash against struggling Munster at Thomond Park, Limerick.

Haig was named in the original All Blacks XV squad on October 8 but said he felt “included” and learned “lots” in his brief All Blacks sojourn. When asked what he offers a rugby team, Haig responded, “Bit tall, bit strong, bit fast.”

These attributes, rather than droll Bill Wyman, Grizz Wyllie style quips, have endeared him to selectors.

His professional rugby breakthrough was in 2022. He was summoned as injury cover for Otago and ended up playing every NPC game (552 minutes, two tries, five wins).

“That started everything off really. Tom Donnelly gave me a shot and he was great aiding my game,” Haig said.

A 15-test All Black, Donnelly was involved in coaching the 2022 New Zealand Under 20s that won the Oceania Rugby Under 20 Championship on the Gold Coast. Haig was on the same team that beat n their crushing victories Fiji (74-5), Argentina (32-9) and Australia (69-12).

It was at Otago Boys’ High School where Haig originally flourished. Haig was unusually selected in the First XV as a Year 11 student. From 2018 to 2020 Otago Boys’ won three consecutive Otago schools championships.

In 2018 Ryan Martin was coach. Martin won 94 of 100 club matches and 48 out of 55 interschools at the helm of Otago Boys.’ He has since worked with Otago, Northland, New England Freejacks, and the Melbourne Rebels. He described Haig as “intelligent,” “robust” and “as good as any schoolboy forward I’ve coached.”

Haig vindicated Martin’s judgment by breaking through with the Highlanders in Super Rugby Pacific this season.

Haig played a dozen matches (718 minutes) as the Highlanders largely underwhelmed again but did score their first win in 19 matches against New Zealand opposition when they beat the Crusaders 32-29 in Dunedin. Cam Miller scored a record 28 points against the 14-time Super Rugby champions.

“That was special. There was a big crowd and the Crusaders are a good team,” Haig said.

“Throughout the season we had some good patches and some bad patches.”

Munster is going through a bad patch. On Tuesday “by mutual consent” and with “immediate effect” Graham Rowntree (32 wins in 57 matches) departed as head coach. The All Blacks XV opposition is 12th out of 16 teams in the United Rugby Championship.

 “We’re not taking them lightly. They’ve got some quality players. I expect it will be a tough game,” Haig said.

Diarmuid Barron captains Munster with Irish centurion Peter O’Mahony returning to the side for his second appearance of the season after a hamstring injury.

Munster’s resources are stretched with the presence of six Academy players in the match-day squad, including Evan O’Connell in line for his first Munster cap.

However, Munster has a long history of challenging touring New Zealand teams, including the All Blacks who they famously beat 12-0 in 1978. It was the All Blacks only loss on their famous 18-match Grand Slam tour. So outstanding was that win that books, plays and poems have been written about it.

The first contact between New Zealand and Munster was in 1905 when Dave Gallaher’s Originals achieved a 33-0 whitewash. Winger H.L. ‘Bunny’ Abbott scored three tries.

In 2008, for the first time in the professional era, the All Blacks played Munster during a Test tour. It took a 77th-minute try by winger Joe Rokocoko to lift the tourists to a heart-stopping 18-16 win.

The bond between Munster and New Zealand was reflected in this game when Kiwis, Rua Tipoki, Doug Howlett, Lifeimi Mafi, and Jeremy Manning performed a haka in response to the All Blacks’ traditional challenge.

In 2016 Munster beat the Maori All Blacks 27-16 in a stirring success where O’Mahony scored a try. Following the haka before the start of the match, the Maori captain Ash Dixon presented the sons of the late Anthony Foley with a jersey. Foley played 201 games for Munster, capting the side on numerous occasions and winning the European Cup twice. The loose forward made 62 appearances (37 wins) for Ireland and later coached Munster.

The All Blacks XV against Munster at Thomond Park, Limerick kicks off on Sunday at 6:30 pm (NZT).