German rugby player Anton Segner chats to NZME about his unique journey to playing Super Rugby in New Zealand. Photo / Brett Phibbs
His story is unique and almost surreal.
Anton Segner was a German kid who fell in love with rugby, and decided to aim for the big time. At just 15 he arrived in New Zealand to pursue a remarkable sporting dream, initially on a six-month student exchange in 2017.
The dream grew even beyond his wildest dreams. The loose forward quickly turned heads as a star with Nelson College, New Zealand Schools, as captain of the Crusaders under-20s, New Zealand under-20s and in the title-winning Tasman Mako.
Tasman old boy Leon MacDonald, the Blues coach, liked what he saw.
The 20-year-old Segner headed north late last year along with his partner Ella Smith, who he met when they were school kids in Nelson.
In his first season with the Blues, the 20-year-old has already notched a handful of Super Rugby appearances and astute observers see franchise captaincy and All Black potential.
Anton Segner chats to the Herald.
Where did your rugby obsession begin?
I went to an international English-speaking school in Frankfurt and two of my best mates were from England. We went into the backyard to play some rugby one day after school. Two days later my older brother and I did our first training at SC 1880 Frankfurt, the local rugby club, which is where I first had contact with Kiwi coaches.
The more I played the sport the more I fell in love with it. I've always been quite a big boy - I was over 80kg when I was nine. I was built for the sport and the physicality, which attracted me to it.
So, there was a Kiwi connection early on…
One of my main coaches was Tim Manawatu (husband of Auē author Becky Manawatu) who became almost like a second father figure to me. Our families even went on holiday together.
He's a rugby development officer with Buller now, but in 2016 Tim got a job with Tasman. He put me in touch with the rugby people at Nelson College, and told me to have a crack at making the first XV.
That must have been an interesting conversation with your parents, a 15-year-old wanting to head to the other side of the world for rugby.
My parents never said "that's not an option", they were quite supportive because it was Tim Manawatu who came up with the idea and they trusted everything he said.
Of course, they were a bit nervous. Would I be good enough? Would I enjoy it? It is at the other end of the world.
It did take a bit of convincing them, but I used the excuse that I wanted to go for education and life experiences as well. The main reason was definitely rugby.
You kind of have two fathers named Tim?
That's another funny part to it. They always fight over who is Tim One and Tim Two. Of course I call my dad "dad", and Tim Manawatu took the name Big T – my dad liked the sound of that nickname and tried to adopt it as well.
So, is your dad really Big T… do you come from a big family?
I'm shorter than both my older and younger brothers which is a bit disappointing, but I'm the strongest which makes up for it. My mum and dad are quite tall, their parents are tall, and mum feeds us well.
Germans are typically quite big people, which is why I'm confused why rugby isn't bigger over there. They prefer football, but we'll see how that goes over the next few years. Hopefully I can inspire a few Germans to go down the rugby road.
Were you able to watch a lot of rugby?
I never got into northern hemisphere rugby. I watched Super Rugby, the All Blacks, Springboks. That was much more exciting. Tim Manawatu got a Sky Sport subscription – I'd go over to his house in the morning and watch the All Blacks. And I'd watch highlights and players on YouTube.
Not exactly normal behaviour for a German kid - although rugby has been there for a long time.
Rugby is tiny in Germany although since sevens became an Olympic sport it has got a little bit bigger.
I don't really know the history of German rugby but from the name of my club, you can see it was founded in 1880. Heidelberg, a small town about an hour outside of Frankfurt, has four clubs. There's a German prop playing in the top French league which is cool to see. A Dutch kid, Fabian Holland, is in Dunedin – someone not from a rugby nation who is giving it a decent crack and having great success in New Zealand.
Did you have a childhood sporting hero?
Rugby gave me people to idolise and at the start it was Richie McCaw. I was also really interested in the haka – I watched the All Blacks do it plenty of times on YouTube.
I played football like any other little German kid, but although our family has had season tickets to Eintracht Frankfurt for 40 or 50 years, I never really had a football hero.
Have you met Richie McCaw?
No - it would be a huge honour. I've been looking up to him for a while.
Any particular memories of your Super Rugby debut against the Hurricanes this year?
The last 10 minutes didn't go as we wanted, we let it slip.
But it was an incredible feeling, to get on the field. Even though there was no crowd it was a crazy feeling, and to this day it is hard to describe – surreal.
I looked over and there was Ardie Savea standing in front of me. I thought: "I can remember being in Germany, watching you on YouTube, watching your highlights reel, now I'm playing against you." He's an intense player, that's for sure. He carries hard and tackles hard, a hard man to stop. His legs just keep going.
There are moments where I have to pinch myself. Getting that first Super Rugby game under the belt was a huge achievement for me and my family.
Where is your game at?
I really enjoy defence, making tackles, getting over the ball at the breakdown. The coaches see that as one of my strengths and I will keep working on that.
On attack, I want to be a bit more of an elusive ball runner and make that one of my strengths. I need to become a strong ball carrier, and that begins with speed and footwork.
Was it a big move, shifting to Auckland?
My partner Ella and I are in a big apartment complex near Britomart. She studies resource and environmental planning online, and does a lot of laptop time while I'm training. We have a simple life really. She's a rock – it's a massive help, having her by my side.
Nelson is beautiful and I always look forward to going back, but I'm so glad to be in Auckland because it reminds me of Frankfurt. Nelson is quite small – Ella and I were looking forward to moving here.
Did you ever spend much time with the main Crusaders squad?
I did pre-season with the Crusaders in 2021 and two weeks this year as well. Getting Luke Romano up here is cool – a familiar face. He's brought a bit of that South Island mindset, get into your work, work hard, get the job done. The boys love him and he's an awesome leader too, having played Super Rugby for 12 or 14 years. He brings a lot of experience and the boys feed into that.
You've had a family reunion after being separated for two-and-a-half years because of Covid restrictions…
That's been awesome. My mum, Eva, came over first and caught me off-guard when we were in Perth. I'm still discovering Auckland but I've been showing them the sights. I showed them around the Blues facility and dad was starstruck - he was like a little kid, shaking the players' hands. They are loving it here.
If you weren't a professional rugby player…
Even as a little kid playing football, I wanted to be a professional but I was too big for that sport. I never really had any other sort of career in mind. My dad runs the family real estate business and I would probably have looked at getting into that and studied something for it.
It must have been a bit of a culture shock, arriving here?
I immediately made close friends through rugby, like Leicester Fainga'anuku who was the Nelson College captain at the time. Our rooms were next to each other – we are still close friends now. That's one of the things I love about rugby – I still keep in touch with my rugby friends back in Germany.
Has it just been rugby, rugby, rugby in New Zealand?
There are some really good spots for fishing and hunting in Nelson. A really good mate Luca Inch, who is with the Highlanders now, takes me out whenever we have time. He went to boarding school with me - we both love our food. I love a good lamb roast and the fresh seafood here – you don't get that in Germany.
The only time I went fishing in Germany was with my family at a lake, where they breed the fish. It's not like taking a boat out to sea, putting the fishing rod out, spending the whole day there. I prefer that to standing by a lake and catching a fish every one or two minutes.
The rugby highlights so far are?
Getting the opportunity to be part of the Blues, playing for New Zealand schools twice, all the successes with Nelson College, winning a premiership with Tasman Mako and getting to another final – they were the most fun moments to date.
Why the Blues?
They have an awesome setup in the loose forwards with a trio of Akira Ioane, Dalton Papalii and Hoskins Sotutu which really attracted me, learning off those guys while also hoping to get some game time. I never expected to get anywhere near the game time I have so far. And there were other little things, like living in a big city again.
Some pundits believe you can go all the way. Was making the All Blacks always part of the plan?
It was more of a dream, a fantasy. As things started to unfold, it became more realistic, which really motivates me to keep pushing and ticking off the goals. If I keep going step by step, the big picture will keep happening.
Your story is unique – how do you look back on the rugby-based decision you made as a kid from football-mad Germany?
I was so focused on the opportunity I wasn't nervous, more excited when I first came here. It was a big step, but I was too young to realise how big it was at the time. It was a bit absurd, but the right decision in the end.
The All Blacks star made a brief appearance at his new club.