Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle / Sport

Opinion: All power to funny 'Badger'

By jared.smith@wanganuichronicle.co.nz
Whanganui Chronicle·
21 Mar, 2014 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

In the world of the PC, of the finely manicured yet non-revealing post-match interview, a simple soul like Nick Cummins is a godsend.

Many Kiwis would have got their first prime-time guffaw thanks to the 26-year-old Force winger when he stood in front of Melody Robinson after his team's win over the Highlanders last weekend.

Why are you nicknamed the "Honey Badger", Robinson inquired, likely already fighting to keep a straight face.

Blessed with the oxymoron (a contradiction) of possessing a drawling tone but a quick wit, Cummins cheerfully launched into his well-tread story about watching a doco on "National Geographic ... or Animal Planet ... one of them Fox bloody setups".

"I watched this thing and this honey badger was going toe-to-toe with a male lion," the curly-haired blond enthused. "It was underneath him and the underdog, obviously, on his back, clawing away, one-two.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Anyway, the big fella got his 'canastas' [testicles] clawed off and he trotted off round the corner and fell over and the badger gets back up and I thought 'what an animal, it's bloody ... that's impressive'."

By this point, Robinson had lost it and her broadcast colleague Scotty Stevenson could make only one assessment: "Best. Post match interview. Ever."

In truth, Robinson and the Sky TV crew knew exactly what they were getting when they requested Cummins for a chat, despite not being the Force captain or one of his team's four tryscorers.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

In the past few years, Australian rugby fans or any online surfers hunting for the latest "meme" have had many a laugh at the unique view on the world provided by the boy raised in south Brisbane with seven siblings by a single dad.

A 12-game Wallaby, Cummins expanded on his badger admiration to the willfully bemused, and no doubt confused, foreign press corp when on tour in Argentina and Europe over the past two seasons.

"I like to get in the mindset of the honey badger when I go into contact," he would tell them.

"There's no doubts, no fears. If you can do that as a human, you're killin' it."

How about what he did to earn selection for the gold jersey?

"I've been doing it a good five years now. Lucky for me every bugger fell over and I got a gig."

But surely, Nick, you had to make a few plans to reach the top level? "One of my old man's sayings was 'if you want to make God laugh, you tell him your plans'.

"We're more focused on tredding softly and carrying a big stick."

This bloke is irrepressible, often indecipherable.

After the sterile vein in which the media-managed player trots out the truism of "full credit to the forwards" or opines that useful nugget "we knew what we had to do and came away with the result", you need a fresh-air character like this to break through the cynicism.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Among all the hyperbole around contracts, television rights, referee appointments, and scrum law interpretations, the wide-eyed lad telling you he'll be "going off like a cut snake" if he scores a try gives us a timely reminder that we all play and watch this game for one overarching reason.

It's a bloody lot of fun.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Sport

Rugby: Whanganui women triumph with six tries

Sport

Rugby: Young guns shine in high-scoring clash against Classics

Whanganui Chronicle

Coaching guru moves south to take role at Cricket Whanganui


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

Rugby: Whanganui women triumph with six tries
Sport

Rugby: Whanganui women triumph with six tries

The Whanganui team won 34-22 against King Country in a preseason match.

28 Jul 05:00 PM
Rugby: Young guns shine in high-scoring clash against Classics
Sport

Rugby: Young guns shine in high-scoring clash against Classics

28 Jul 05:00 PM
Coaching guru moves south to take role at Cricket Whanganui
Whanganui Chronicle

Coaching guru moves south to take role at Cricket Whanganui

20 Jul 05:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP