October 15, 2025 • 6 mins
Another promising NZ rugby product has decided to look overseas for further rugby opportunities.
Fletcher Anderson is a loose forward who has featured for the Crusaders and was recently named the man of the year, player of the year and defender of the year at the annual Tasman Mako awards.
He has signed for the Welsh Club Scarlets, who play in the United Rugby Championship, and he joined Sportstalk to discuss the move.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildergrave
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Ten away from eight on News Talks. He'd be well
another promising New Zealand rugby product. He has decided to
look overseas for further opportunities. Tasman number eight Flitcher Anderson
played a bit for the Crusaders as well, won the
Man of the Year, Player of the Year and Defender
of the Year and the Tasman Awards not too long ago,
but he signed for Scarlets to plan the URC moves
in November and he joins the show now to discuss
(00:37):
exactly why. Hey Flitcher, how are you?
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yeah, all good, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Well, a bit of news in the last twenty four
hours that you are heading to Scarlets on a new
deal there. Tell us how it all came about.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yeah, No, I am hitting off and a couple of
weeks time there, a few weeks into this season now,
so I'll join them up. It'll be a round five
or six. But yeah, no, it's yeah, it's sere. We
came on our day. Yeah, some of going overseas wasn't
really on my sort of horizons just yet. Yeah, popped
up around on a halfway three MPC. I was sort
(01:10):
of looking around in New Zealand market, trying to get
a gig somewhere in my agency. There's a club in
Wales that wanted to get in touch, so I jumped
on a on a zoom call with Pearly Dwayne Kilby,
head coach, and he sort of said, hey, yeah, like
the way you planned. He had a bull gang number
eight and you would be tended to, you know, talking
and see if you tend to get over And I've
(01:31):
got a good man of mine who plays over there,
blear murray. Well I played club footy with and yeah no, yeah,
good mates from sort of uni unique days and I
sort of, you know, something a bit different. So yeah,
that's how it came up.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yeah, so it was on your radar. So you were
off contract with with the Crusaders and looking for a
deal in New Zealand when this cropped up.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Yeah that's sure.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, we obviously keen to stay before. Before this deal
came along, all things weren't you know, people went knocking
on your door.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
What was the go Oh yes, yeah, I've sort of
been talking with the Balloons a little bit. So you
had your head in an offer and yeah, but it
sort of came at the same time and then all
sudden I had a pretty quick decision to make. So
so yeah, what did you weigh up?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
I mean, obviously you're still very very young. Yeah, you've
played a little bit of Super Raggy, but not too
much versus this new opportunity. What were the decisions and
the factors that went into it.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Well, obviously there's appeal to go overseas, like it was
something I've always been keen to do. You know that
it's playing a new camp, living a new city. It's
an awesome comp by, like by the sounds of it,
like they play you know, les different countries rather ure cs,
like it's it's top quality. But even just like purely
from a Rugby development point of view, like it was
a sound like it's good part to play play footy
(02:46):
like at the Crusades in a heap of game time
and you know, like so yeah, that's purely from a
Ragby development point of view, it sort of makes sense
for me. And it's like different style of your environment
may obviously played quite different rugby over there, like and
you're playing you know a lot of different teams as well.
So you've sort of preview each week would be interesting,
(03:06):
which is you know that stimulating and keeps keeps the
game interesting from me and will help me grownd my
game hopefully. So, I mean there's lots of a lot
to like about it. When you sort of really break
it down, it's sort of yeah, and like I'm still
young in between two and I've signed for three years,
so I could play three years and then you know, come,
I can always just come back, but you know, yeah,
I could come back. So that's sort of how I
(03:28):
looked at it as well, like it's not sort of
closing myself off. Yeah. Yeah, it's just a chance to
play and experience something. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
So, yeah, you played for the New Zealand Schools in
twenty twenty or you slipped from New Zone Schools in
twenty twenty, obviously been around for it for a few
seasons now, But did you feel that maybe you weren't
getting the opportunities that maybe you wanted in New Zealand rugby,
that you're perhaps you know, behind a few players at
super rugby level.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Yeah, well, I don't know. Yeah, I want to say
that feel like obviously the guys at the Crusaders who
were playing were like outstanding. I was behind some pretty
good gala, so like I obviously wasn't, you know, like
it was frustrated sort of you do it by the
time a little bit. So yeah for me, Yeah, I
don't know. Yeah, I feel like there's always opportunity here,
but I think I'll probably probably play a bit more
(04:16):
over there, but sort of weighing it up, I guess,
But you never know, right, Like it's you still have
to make these decisions and you don't know, like I
could go over there and not get sleep to not
play well. So it's sort of you just have to
make a decision and sort of and sort of go
with it, and it doesn't what you make it. Just
just try to play play good ragging. If I'm in
a new environment while I'm enjoying things and excited by it,
(04:37):
then hope I'll do that, I guess. So you never
really know, right, So I don't know, You've just got
to make a decision then and then you know, I
see how it goes.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
I guess, Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, do you have
any Welsh blood, any heritage down the family tree that
you might be able to call on for international rugby?
Speaker 3 (04:53):
No, no, I don't. I sort of asking my interest
or do a bit of digging, but unfortunately not yeah,
which is obviously a shame. But yeah, by.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
The time you spend five years over there though, if
you're doing and are there for what you say, three
years now and a couple of years more residency, is
that something down the track that as you say, you know,
you don't know how this is going to pan out,
but it could be on the horizon if you if
you spend long enough for the end.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Yeah, yeah, it is interesting. Like Johnny McNichol hlan good mates.
We've played with it the Crusaders this year. I sort
of because he went over when he was sort of
like in his early twenties. He need a great time.
He loved scarlets and obviously he played for Whales and
that's another thing that drew me to it, like all
the internationals. So I've sort of spoken to having been there,
(05:34):
I've really enjoyed it, like it sounds a great club,
you know, Yeah, it's cool part of the world. So
that was sort of going is on your journey when
I had a great career, So.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
It must be hard to leave tas whine you clocked
up a few awards at the awards night this year.
I thought we had a great season watching on from
a distance here in the NPC. So it's a leaving
the mark or behind must be pretty tough.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Oh thank you, Yeah, yeah it is. Yeah, it will
be hard. I love, I love and I love playing
here DESI. It's like it's a great a great crew
of people and we you know, play good foot him.
We have a lot of fun doing it. So yeah,
it was a shame that like the competition or mean,
I can't play in the EP any show unfortunately, if
I could, I would. Yeah. I do love it here,
(06:14):
so yeah, there is a bit of a it was
a shame about there, but yeah, I almost almost said you.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talks
it'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildergrave
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Ten away from eight on News Talks. He'd be well
another promising New Zealand rugby product. He has decided to
look overseas for further opportunities. Tasman number eight Flitcher Anderson
played a bit for the Crusaders as well, won the
Man of the Year, Player of the Year and Defender
of the Year and the Tasman Awards not too long ago,
but he signed for Scarlets to plan the URC moves
in November and he joins the show now to discuss
(00:37):
exactly why. Hey Flitcher, how are you?
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yeah, all good, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Well, a bit of news in the last twenty four
hours that you are heading to Scarlets on a new
deal there. Tell us how it all came about.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yeah, No, I am hitting off and a couple of
weeks time there, a few weeks into this season now,
so I'll join them up. It'll be a round five
or six. But yeah, no, it's yeah, it's sere. We
came on our day. Yeah, some of going overseas wasn't
really on my sort of horizons just yet. Yeah, popped
up around on a halfway three MPC. I was sort
(01:10):
of looking around in New Zealand market, trying to get
a gig somewhere in my agency. There's a club in
Wales that wanted to get in touch, so I jumped
on a on a zoom call with Pearly Dwayne Kilby,
head coach, and he sort of said, hey, yeah, like
the way you planned. He had a bull gang number
eight and you would be tended to, you know, talking
and see if you tend to get over And I've
(01:31):
got a good man of mine who plays over there,
blear murray. Well I played club footy with and yeah no, yeah,
good mates from sort of uni unique days and I
sort of, you know, something a bit different. So yeah,
that's how it came up.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yeah, so it was on your radar. So you were
off contract with with the Crusaders and looking for a
deal in New Zealand when this cropped up.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Yeah that's sure.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, we obviously keen to stay before. Before this deal
came along, all things weren't you know, people went knocking
on your door.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
What was the go Oh yes, yeah, I've sort of
been talking with the Balloons a little bit. So you
had your head in an offer and yeah, but it
sort of came at the same time and then all
sudden I had a pretty quick decision to make. So
so yeah, what did you weigh up?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
I mean, obviously you're still very very young. Yeah, you've
played a little bit of Super Raggy, but not too
much versus this new opportunity. What were the decisions and
the factors that went into it.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Well, obviously there's appeal to go overseas, like it was
something I've always been keen to do. You know that
it's playing a new camp, living a new city. It's
an awesome comp by, like by the sounds of it,
like they play you know, les different countries rather ure cs,
like it's it's top quality. But even just like purely
from a Rugby development point of view, like it was
a sound like it's good part to play play footy
(02:46):
like at the Crusades in a heap of game time
and you know, like so yeah, that's purely from a
Ragby development point of view, it sort of makes sense
for me. And it's like different style of your environment
may obviously played quite different rugby over there, like and
you're playing you know a lot of different teams as well.
So you've sort of preview each week would be interesting,
(03:06):
which is you know that stimulating and keeps keeps the
game interesting from me and will help me grownd my
game hopefully. So, I mean there's lots of a lot
to like about it. When you sort of really break
it down, it's sort of yeah, and like I'm still
young in between two and I've signed for three years,
so I could play three years and then you know, come,
I can always just come back, but you know, yeah,
I could come back. So that's sort of how I
(03:28):
looked at it as well, like it's not sort of
closing myself off. Yeah. Yeah, it's just a chance to
play and experience something. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
So, yeah, you played for the New Zealand Schools in
twenty twenty or you slipped from New Zone Schools in
twenty twenty, obviously been around for it for a few
seasons now, But did you feel that maybe you weren't
getting the opportunities that maybe you wanted in New Zealand rugby,
that you're perhaps you know, behind a few players at
super rugby level.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Yeah, well, I don't know. Yeah, I want to say
that feel like obviously the guys at the Crusaders who
were playing were like outstanding. I was behind some pretty
good gala, so like I obviously wasn't, you know, like
it was frustrated sort of you do it by the
time a little bit. So yeah for me, Yeah, I
don't know. Yeah, I feel like there's always opportunity here,
but I think I'll probably probably play a bit more
(04:16):
over there, but sort of weighing it up, I guess,
But you never know, right, Like it's you still have
to make these decisions and you don't know, like I
could go over there and not get sleep to not
play well. So it's sort of you just have to
make a decision and sort of and sort of go
with it, and it doesn't what you make it. Just
just try to play play good ragging. If I'm in
a new environment while I'm enjoying things and excited by it,
(04:37):
then hope I'll do that, I guess. So you never
really know, right, So I don't know, You've just got
to make a decision then and then you know, I
see how it goes.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
I guess, Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, do you have
any Welsh blood, any heritage down the family tree that
you might be able to call on for international rugby?
Speaker 3 (04:53):
No, no, I don't. I sort of asking my interest
or do a bit of digging, but unfortunately not yeah,
which is obviously a shame. But yeah, by.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
The time you spend five years over there though, if
you're doing and are there for what you say, three
years now and a couple of years more residency, is
that something down the track that as you say, you know,
you don't know how this is going to pan out,
but it could be on the horizon if you if
you spend long enough for the end.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Yeah, yeah, it is interesting. Like Johnny McNichol hlan good mates.
We've played with it the Crusaders this year. I sort
of because he went over when he was sort of
like in his early twenties. He need a great time.
He loved scarlets and obviously he played for Whales and
that's another thing that drew me to it, like all
the internationals. So I've sort of spoken to having been there,
(05:34):
I've really enjoyed it, like it sounds a great club,
you know, Yeah, it's cool part of the world. So
that was sort of going is on your journey when
I had a great career, So.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
It must be hard to leave tas whine you clocked
up a few awards at the awards night this year.
I thought we had a great season watching on from
a distance here in the NPC. So it's a leaving
the mark or behind must be pretty tough.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Oh thank you, Yeah, yeah it is. Yeah, it will
be hard. I love, I love and I love playing
here DESI. It's like it's a great a great crew
of people and we you know, play good foot him.
We have a lot of fun doing it. So yeah,
it was a shame that like the competition or mean,
I can't play in the EP any show unfortunately, if
I could, I would. Yeah. I do love it here,
(06:14):
so yeah, there is a bit of a it was
a shame about there, but yeah, I almost almost said you.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talks
it'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
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