Anton Segner is poised to achieve a historic first if he appears in New Zealand's rugby union team for Saturday's match against Italy, which would make him the first player born in Germany to earn All Black status. The 24-year-old from Frankfurt caught the rugby bug through English school friends and became so captivated by New Zealand culture that he persuaded his parents to prepare traditional Kiwi meals and taught himself haka routines from online videos. At 15, he relocated across the world to attend Nelson College in New Zealand, a school with a track record of producing elite rugby talent, and subsequently advanced through the country's age-grade rugby system before securing a contract with Super Rugby's Auckland-based Blues.

Segner's remarkable trajectory closely resembles that of Fabian Holland, who was born in the Netherlands but moved to New Zealand as a teenager and has since become an All Black and was named World Rugby's breakthrough player of the year. Coach Dave Rennie has included Segner on the bench for the Nations Championship encounter following a narrow win over France, demonstrating the sport's ongoing capacity to draw talented athletes from around the world into New Zealand's rugby system. The selection underscores how players from diverse backgrounds have increasingly found pathways to representing the All Blacks.