Passion propels new NZ U20 rep

• Published date: 24 June 2022
• Publication title: Sports Tab

The 19-year-old lock was one of seven Highlanders under-20 players selected in the New Zealand under-20 team

When the side runs out for its opening match in the Oceania Championship in Australia on July 1, Holland will get his first chance to don the black jersey and silver fern.

Not bad for a teenager who grew up in a football-mad village in the Netherlands.

He would have been a demon in the box, too.

Send a cross his way and there is a very good chance the Dutchman would have nodded it into the goal.

He is 2.04m tall, after all.

Luckily for the New Zealand colts, he discovered rugby at an early age.

He was an oddity back home. Holland grew up in a ‘‘small village’’ near Amsterdam.

That small village is Castricum, which has a population of about 35,000.

Perhaps ‘‘small’’ takes on a new perspective when you have to duck under every doorway and tip the scales at 120kg.

Castricum was ‘‘soccer-mad’’, he said. Yes, they call it soccer there. And Fabian embraced the local passion to begin with.

‘‘I used to play soccer when I was little and I played until I was 6,’’ he said.

‘‘But I just love physicality and just love using my size and I couldn’t really do that in football ... Then I stumbled across rugby.’’

His primary school ran a give-it-a-go programme where children could try different sports.

‘‘As soon as I did my first training, I was in love. I was a different person.’’

It sparked an enormous passion which would rival that of the most avid supporter.

He discovered Super Rugby and the All Blacks via the internet.

‘‘That is what ignited the dream pretty much.’’

That dream was to move to New Zealand and pursue a rugby career.

‘‘As a kid, I had All Black posters on my wall. My bed sheets were covered with the silver fern. I became a mad fan,’’ Holland said.

In 2014, the All Black Sevens visited his club and he got to meet the likes of DJ Forbes and Akira Ioane.

‘‘Meeting those people was for me real special. It put oil on the flame.’’

His father was a Crusaders fan. His younger brother, Quinten, adopted the Chiefs as his team, but at least one of the Hollands had good taste.

Fabian picked the...