Craig Knight brings New Zealand style

There is an old saying in New Zealand: You get a rugby ball when you’re 1, a pair of boots when you’re 2, learn to pass when you’re 3 — and you’re on the field when you’re 4.

That passion for rugby has extended beyond New Zealand for senior Craig Knight.

Seven years after taking his first steps on a rugby field, Knight moved to Australia with his sport in tow. And since his freshman year of college, Knight has shared that passion with UNC and other colleges throughout the country.

Knight, the recruiting co-chairman of the UNC Rugby Club, decided to come to UNC after a friend of his in Australia started looking at American universities.

“I wanted to experience more than what Australia had to offer,” Knight said. “I just wanted to come over and experience it.”

Knight expected American rugby to be a little primitive, but he was immediately surprised at the skill he encountered.

“As much as everyone says that America is not developed as a rugby culture, the Americans have definitely picked up the game a lot more than I thought when I first came here,” Knight said.

As the loosehead prop, Knight plays a position similar to a football lineman.

He does the dirty work. He doesn’t stand out. But he’s always in the middle of the play, clearing space for his teammates.

“It’s like a center in football. If they don’t do their job, nothing works at all,” Knight said. “I try to show off some skill, but it’s not really like a show-off position.”

UNC Rugby Club President Jacob Rierson said Knight is one of the stockier and more physical players on the team.

“He’s sort of like the basis off which our offense goes,” Rierson said.

Despite Knight’s rough position on the field, Rierson said that Knight, who often peppers his conversations with “mate” and “cheers,” keeps tensions light on the sideline and is always quick to make a joke.

Rierson added that he thinks Knight exploits his fun-loving New Zealand accent to pick up girls. Though Knight denies that claim, he admits that the accent does come in handy.

“It’s a good mechanism to initiate conversation,” Knight said.

The men’s rugby team started out the month ranked 12th in American Rugby News’ D-I rankings.

With the end of his college career in sight, Knight said he is looking to lead the UNC rugby team toward a championship in the new Atlantic Coast Rugby League. The winner of the league gets an automatic bid for the national championship.

“We want to be the winners of the ACRL,” Knight said. “We would love to be top five by the time we’ve left.”
Though his time at UNC is nearly finished, Knight said he hopes his stay in America has only just begun.

Next year he is going to either enroll as a graduate student in the UNC School of Education or go into editing or screen writing.

“I’d also love to continue to play rugby,” Knight said. “Once you’ve been amongst it for so long, it’s hard to withdraw from that culture.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu