{"id":54548,"date":"2025-08-09T04:11:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T04:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/54548\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T04:11:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T04:11:11","slug":"jacob-ratumaitavuki-kneepkens-embraces-win-win-of-all-blacks-omission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/54548\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens embraces ‘win-win’ of All Blacks omission"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A hard-to-miss rising star in the New Zealand<\/a> scene is electric fullback Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens<\/a>, and while All Blacks<\/a> selectors are yet to call his name, it\u2019s become apparent the Super Rugby star is featuring in their conversations.<\/p>\n

The Taranaki product swiftly claimed the Highlanders\u2019 starting 15 jersey after moving south from the Blues<\/a> ahead of the 2024 season, and while a significant neck injury stalled his ascension, he has returned in dangerous form.<\/p>\n

Seven strong showings for the Southerners earned the fullback a call from Scott Robertson<\/a>, with an invitation to the All Blacks\u2019 pre-season training camp a suggestion that he\u2019s worked his way into the selection fringes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to the camp the week of the Super Rugby final and got pretty good comms after that,\u201d Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens told Scotty Stevenson and Israel Dagg<\/a> on Sport Nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really want to put too much pressure on myself to make those teams. If I don\u2019t make it, then maybe I\u2019m into a bit of a slump. So if it happens, it\u2019ll be a dream come true.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for right now, I love being back home, my family is all in Taranaki, and my friends and stuff, so it\u2019s almost like a win-win situation at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Should any more injury woes hit the All Blacks camp, the versatile back is happy to fill any void the coaches see fit for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI obviously played the first couple of years of my Super and NPC on the wing and gravitated closer to the ball, but, mate, if it\u2019s what Razor needs, I\u2019ll happily answer the call and play 23 or 11 or whatever it is. Any chance to get out on the field, mate, I\u2019ll definitely take it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Round one of the NPC saw the 24-year-old produce a masterclass showing in a strong win over the Northland<\/a> Taniwha. Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens provided three try assists, each ignited by his footwork and finished thanks to a clean playmaking skillset.<\/p>\n

The aforementioned neck injury that sidelined him for six months is also to thank for the joy the 50-cap Taranaki talent is currently playing with.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a rollercoaster, bro, obviously going through all the rehab stuff and not knowing when I\u2019d be back was a bit scary, a bit of the unknown,\u201d he said, reflecting on the recent chapters in his journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the injury, I\u2019ve become a lot more appreciative of every time I\u2019ve been able to get onto the field because I know how much that can change within a game. It was awesome to get back onto the field with the Taieri club down south and being able to come back with the Highlanders, and after that, the Barbarians, was a cool experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cMate, I hope it shows in my game that I\u2019m excited to be on the field every time. I love playing with whatever team I\u2019m with, and there\u2019s a lot of joy that goes into preparing for a game and being out there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A hard-to-miss rising star in the New Zealand scene is electric fullback Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens, and while All Blacks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-54548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}