Legendary New Zealand international Sam Whitelock was a special guest at the club this week - as the All Blacks star met young Dragons to pass on his knowledge and experience.
Whitelock needs no introduction as the most capped All Black in history, spanning four World Cups, nine Super Rugby finals and 153 appearances in the black jersey.
The giant second row – who retired in April after a playing spell in France with Section Paloise – is currently in the UK and promoting his new autobiography ‘View from the Second Row’.
And he took time out of his schedule to visit the home of the Dragons after being invited in by Head Coach Dai Flanagan to meet a number of the club’s brightest young stars.
Whitelock spent time discussing his career and thoughts on rugby and leadership with Ben Carter, Ryan Woodman, Aneurin Owen, Brodie Coghlan, Harri Ackerman, Harri Ford and Academy Coach Jack Condy.
"We made contact with Sam to talk to our next generation of talent and really inspire them," said Dragons head coach Dai Flanagan. "You don’t get as many caps for the All Blacks as Sam had without doing the hard work and the understanding of what it takes and to pass on that knowledge is invaluable to some of our players.
"He’s been awesome for me, he’s been in some of the world’s best environments and coached by some of the best coaches in the world and I’m trying to steal and learn off some of the best people in the world and today was an opportunity for not just the players but for myself and an academy coach (Jack Condy) to steal and learn to adapt and improve.
"They learnt what it takes to get there, a world class performer, who’s been in an elite performance environment but also it doesn’t come easy," added Flanagan. "There are little arts to it and subtleties to it where you can get your massive wins and some of the stuff they’ve learnt off Sam today they’ll see through the rest of their career.
"It’s massive isn’t it, we want to put our players around some of the best players in the world and an opportunity came up today to bring Sam in to speak with them and that’s invaluable. Like I said previously the lessons they learned today will help them for the rest of their career."
After making his debut for New Zealand in 2010 at the age of 21, Samuel Whitelock was selected for the 2011 Rugby World Cup campaign. He played in all seven matches and emerged victorious with the nation's first trophy since 1987. Four years later he played in all seven matches of the 2015 tournament, becoming one of an elite group of players to win back-to-back World Cups. Whitelock was instrumental in the most successful period of All Blacks rugby in the modern era, and in his retirement year he topped off his domestic career with a performance for the ages, and a record run of championships for the Crusaders. In this autobiography, Whitelock speaks in his own words about physical and mental toughness, leadership and coaching, friends and foes on the footy field, tradition, darkening the jersey and how family and farming provided the bedrock for global success. View from the Second Row is an inspiring story and a journey like no other, and the epitome of what makes New Zealand rugby special.
Want to know more about View from the Second Row - click HERE to discover more.
