Fabian Holland in action for the All Blacks. Photo / SmartFrame
Adam Julian for LockerRoom
On a bright-yellow wall in bold, black capital letters at the Castricum Rugby Club in northern Holland, it’s written: “Dreams only work if you do”. This mantra is a tribute to Fabian Holland, the first All Black born in Holland, and sits alongside a photo wall.
Following a stellar Super Rugby Pacific season in the otherwise struggling Highlanders, the physically imposing six-foot-eight (2.03m), 124kg lock was drafted into the All Blacks and played every minute in the French series whitewash. The 22-year-old made his first 41 tackles for the All Blacks without a miss.
Fortress Eden Park was secured on September 6 with a stirring 24-17 conquest of the world champion Springboks. Holland’s late rearguard of a dozen minutes helped the All Blacks defuse the “Bomb Squad”.
When the big Dutchie arrived at Christchurch Boys’ High School in 2019, palming off enthusiastic offers from South Africa’s Northwood High School in Durban, he was a first five-eighths.
Really?
A poster of Daniel Carter hangs in the club gymnasium, not far from a 1991 Rugby World Cup promotion featuring Inga the Winger.
At Rugby Academy NoordWest, one of six regional rugby academies in the Netherlands, Holland’s parents were paying extra tuition for him to train up to four times a week, with additional sessions led by specialist trainers. One of those trainers, Wiet van Duin, was a six-foot-five international first five-eighths.
“Tens that size aren’t that uncommon, are they? We’re big boys in the Netherlands,” van Duin said with a laugh.
“At 15, Fabian was a leading player in our under-19 team. He possessed exceptional handling skills and a profound understanding of the game. I still miss his ability to step someone. Perhaps because of his new role, he needs more confidence to show it.
“He’s huge” was the short and enthusiastic text Reinout Holland received from Mike Drury when his son arrived at Christchurch Boys’ High School in 2019. There was no chance, however, he was playing 10.
“When I first met Fabian, he spoke English like Justin Marshall. When I asked him who his favourite player was, he replied Jimmy Cowan.” Drury, a coach and manager with Boys’ High, laughed.
“Fabian is a sponge for knowledge, a bright boy from a great family. His father is a chemical engineer, and his mum works in nature management. Fabian studies the sciences at university. He’s had to work hard at some of the technical aspects of the game, especially getting his body position lower in the tackle, but he’s a natural.”
But it was nearly over before it even started. New Zealand was set to enter a Covid lockdown, and Holland was offered the chance to return home.
That’s when Tyler Koning stepped in. The New Zealand Under 85 international, who won a national 85kg title with High School Old Boys Light Bears and played for Mid Canterbury, offered to host Holland rent-free for as long as needed. Koning had played for Castricum and was capped by the Netherlands.
Castricum, area code 0251, is a seaside town in North Holland, located about half an hour from the capital, Amsterdam. Its main tourist attraction is the beach, with the Lake of Alkmaar-Uitgeest, which offers facilities for sailing and windsurfing. The town has a population of just over 35,000, and the locals describe it as a village with a slower pace of life, emphasising strong relationships and genuine connections.
The rugby club, with three senior male, one female, and several junior teams, serves as a central meeting point in the community.
Interestingly, Fabian’s younger sister Franka, a Dutch international, alternates between second five-eighth and fullback for the women’s team. She is the twin of Quentin Holland, a New Zealand Secondary Schools representative out of King’s High School in Dunedin contracted to the Highlanders Academy. In 1982, Castricum contributed more players (six) to the Netherlands team who played the first women’s rugby international in Utrecht against France.
Castricum rugby board member Peter Jurgens is an affable, urbane real estate agent who drives like an amateur Max Verstappen and has sons playing for the club. He oversees the wellbeing and development of youth, as well as recruitment efforts.
Jurgens began playing rugby at 49, drawn in by the gladiatorial nature of the sport. Now 60, he wishes he could still play: “Physical strength isn’t the problem; it’s speed. There are four people on top of me before I can get up,” he laughs.
“Our club was founded in 1967 and played its first game in 1968. We were promoted to the Eredivisie, the highest level of Dutch rugby, in 1982 and have remained there ever since. We won our first national title in 1986 and defended it in 1987, but then we faced a challenging period.”
Flirting with relegation made it difficult to retain talent, so the club became ambitious and launched a bold recruitment drive specifically targeting Kiwis. It worked.
Jarrod Telford, who played 23 games for Manawatū, and Raymond Willemse were the first recruits in 1997. Bob Waitere, another Kiwi from Dunedin, later introduced Fabian Holland to the haka, spending six weeks educating a group of junior players about it. Lister Kire played 30 games at hooker for Hawke’s Bay and won the NPC Division II championship with Central Vikings in 1998. He can frequently be seen on Saturdays in “Kiwi Corner” behind the posts, as Earle Kirton would be, offering softly spoken nuggets of knowledge.
In 2000, Castricum not only won the national championship but also the Cup and the National Sevens Championship – a remarkable feat known in Dutch rugby as a “triple”. After the regular rugby season, Castricum also claimed the very first Dutch Beach Rugby title at the Ameland Beach Rugby tournament.
The Duinranders raised the bar further with the arrival of player-coach Gavin Roberts, who is now a real estate agent in Milford and one of the most enthusiastic supporters of Westlake Boys’ High School and Takapuna Rugby Club. His son Mackenzy played in an exceptional Westlake First XV that won both North Harbour and Blues titles in recent years.
During their golden era from 2003 to 2007, Castricum won five consecutive national championships.
Money talks in Dutch rugby, however, and soon nearby Hilversum went on a spending spree, securing five championships and producing Scottish international Tim Visser, who left for Newcastle at the same age as Fabian Holland to further his career.
Nevertheless, Kiwis continued to arrive at Castricum. One with real mana was Rodney Hermans. He died at 46 in 2018 after a two-decade involvement with the club, including coaching the Premier team from 2014 to 2017. A memorial shield in his honour, decorated with a koro pattern and the words “Will Never Perish”, is contested annually in a fixture against “The Dukes”.
In 2014, on their way to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the All Blacks Sevens team visited. Sevens has deep roots at Castricum, which has won national titles in 1982, 1983, 1988, 1990, 1998, 2000, 2007 and 2014.
Four Marcker brothers – Hans, Andre, Mats, and Peter – all represented the Netherlands at the 1989 Hong Kong Sevens. Two others, Wim and Theo, were fierce competitors, while everyone agrees the gehaktballen (Dutch meatballs) club icon Marina Marcker served were the best.
Holland attended the All Blacks Sevens training session at age 11, an event captured by film-maker Pelle Wybenga. There, he met All Blacks Sevens captain and World Rugby Hall of Fame inductee DJ Forbes, as well as future All Black Akira Ioane.
In Castricum, there is a shared Kiwi-Dutch rugby devotion. When Holland plays for the All Blacks, the club stops. Ahead of the Springboks match at Eden Park, a junior sleepover is organised to build camaraderie at the start of the season, coinciding with a breakfast broadcast. Kids hold masks of Fabian and cheer wildly in common rugby attire, including several Super Rugby jerseys. The old boys and women are more subdued but not less engaged.
Castricum looks, feels, sounds and smells like a good Kiwi club ahead of their first match in the 2025 Eredivisie against Oisterwijk, affectionately known as the “Oysters”.
The referees may be substandard and in short supply, but people are grateful for their presence. Props are hard to find, and the atmosphere is filled with banter, beer and “hard cases”.
Perhaps the biggest “hard case” is Roy Schermer, a deaf-mute hooker from birth. His squat build and squinty eyes resemble Sean Fitzpatrick. No one quite knows how long he has been around, but everyone remembers when he was yellow-carded for talking to the referee.
Tausinga Kautai, whom Fabian calls “Uncle”, sought something different after leaving Sacred Heart College in Auckland. Now a barber, he is married with three kids and is the brother of Highlanders prop Sefo Kautai, who lifts Holland in the lineouts during Super Rugby.
Clayton Kiwara won a National Top Four title with Gisborne Boys’ High School in 2007. After playing for Poverty Bay and Ngāti Porou East Coast, he arrived at Castricum with talent and an appetite for a good time. He is now married with two kids.
Senior head coach Bart Wierenga jnr played with All Blacks Emoni Narawa and Leroy Carter when Bay of Plenty won the 2018 National Under-19 Jock Hobbs Memorial title. His young side lost 42-24 to Oysters, but he remained philosophical: “We have a work-ons.”
He acknowledged that lock Dirk Bruil, who spent the past four years in Manchester, had a good game. Bruil scored a 35-metre runaway try and was named Player of the Match.
Bart’s namesake father, with a Michael Hooper haircut, was part of the famous 1989 Dutch Sevens team. He is one of the club’s legends and even wrote a coffee table book titled Legacy, celebrating rugby.
The legacy of Castricum is that it’s incredibly hard to leave.
This story was originally published at Newsroom.co.nz and is republished with permission.