{"id":117909,"date":"2025-11-04T19:05:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T19:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/117909\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T19:05:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T19:05:13","slug":"hybrid-rugby-prospect-oli-mathis-commits-to-crusaders-until-end-of-2028-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/117909\/","title":{"rendered":"Hybrid rugby prospect Oli Mathis commits to Crusaders until end of 2028 season"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"OliOli Mathis in action for the All Blacks Sevens at HBF Park in Perth earlier this year. Photo \/ Richard Wainwright<\/p>\n

Physically, he is transitioning into that role. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m 101kg now, but just slowly building my body – and just not rushing into it. I want to play for a long time, not a short time.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mathis says that despite focusing on one position, hybrid isn\u2019t a dirty word to him. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s exciting. Like not many people are doing it, to be fair. I see a few more in the NPC have been doing it this year, but I think it\u2019s cool. The game\u2019s changing so fast and it\u2019s cool to be able to play two positions. I\u2019m happy to do what\u2019s best for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"VictoriousVictorious Crusaders coach Rob Penney. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

Crusaders head coach Rob Penney is delighted to have Mathis at Rugby Park and is clear that they see him as a loose forward first. <\/p>\n

\u201cLook, the aim is to create another All Black, and he\u2019s not going to be one probably as a hybrid,\u201d says Penney. <\/p>\n

Penney concedes that hybrid players are becoming more common \u2013 but the true value is yet to be seen. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if the game\u2019s ready for it yet. There\u2019s a bit of it floating around, like it\u2019s happening in the United Kingdom a little bit. <\/p>\n

\u201cJust for someone like Oli, he could be such a special player in one position. Let\u2019s get him settled and then you know at some point in his future career if he ends up being a hybrid, that\u2019s for others to decide,\u201d says Penney. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s not out of the question, you know, going forward that something like that doesn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WaikatoWaikato winger Oli Mathis offloads against Counties during round 3 of the 2025 Bunnings NPC. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

The title-winning coach is also being challenged on his stance by his attack coach, James Marshall. <\/p>\n

\u201cJames is very innovative and thinks outside the box a lot and he\u2019s a massive advocate for the hybrid,\u201d says Penney. <\/p>\n

Regardless of where Mathis plays \u2013 or how he\u2019s played, his skill set and signing has created plenty of excitement ahead of pre-season at Crusaders headquarters. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have eight backs out there, aren\u2019t we?\u201d said Penney. <\/p>\n

Mike Thorpe<\/a> is a senior multimedia journalist for the Herald, based in Christchurch. He has been a broadcast journalist across television and radio for 20 years and joined the Herald in August 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oli Mathis in action for the All Blacks Sevens at HBF Park in Perth earlier this year. Photo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[19330,52044,3465,56380,8127,30949,3273,9476,83508,3025,111,139,69,1118,83507,13237,6327,6926,213,56383,61,698,4741,80],"class_list":["post-117909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-19330","tag-commits","tag-committed","tag-crusaders","tag-end","tag-exciting","tag-future","tag-hybrid","tag-mathis","tag-most","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-oli","tag-prospect","tag-rugby","tag-season","tag-sports","tag-talents","tag-to","tag-until","tag-young","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}