Another Jack in the Crusaders’ club

Young lock Liam Jack is following in the footsteps of his father and uncle - on the pathway to becoming a Crusader.

Liam is the son of former Crusaders lock Graham Jack who made four appearances in the victorious 1998 season and played 21 times for Canterbury. He is also the nephew of Chris Jack who played more than 100 times for the Crusaders and earned 67 caps for the All Blacks.

Liam, 19, toured the UK and Ireland with the Crusaders during their pre-season matches against Munster and Bristol.

He played against the Highlanders in Methven last week and said it was an "awesome experience".

"It was cool to be a part of that environment, with all the professionals and stuff like that.

"Yeah, they’re really friendly and really inviting in that space.

"It was really cool to see how they did things."

He said it was a goal to follow in his father’s and uncle’s footsteps.

"Yeah, it’s pretty cool to hopefully have the same experience as they did one day with putting on the same jersey as them."

Graham said Liam has worked hard to get where he is.

"He’s put in a huge amount of work to get there.

"It’s a factor of years of work through his schooling and a lot of support from a lot of different coaches over the years."

This is Liam’s second year at the academy as he juggles his rugby commitments with his academic pursuits. He is studying for a Bachelor of Architecture at Ara.

"It takes quite a bit of communicating between the managers of the academy and the tutors at Ara," he said.

"But you can get around it pretty easy and just get a good schedule going and things go pretty smoothly after that."

Liam only found out he was travelling to the UK two days before the team left - which led to a bit of a mad rush.

"Yeah, it was a quick turnaround," he said.

"Had to get a passport sorted, which was good fun."

He said he leans on his dad and uncle for advice often.

"Having them there to help me when I need it, yeah. They’re pretty open to helping me out and always there for me if I need it.

"When he (Graham) did his thing with the Crusaders he was doing full-time work being an engineer, so he had that balance real nailed down between the two, and he’s able to help me out with just trying to get my study done and as well as trying to make a rugby career."

Graham agreed but said he tries to stay out of the way when it comes to proper coaching.

"I don’t really get too involved in the technical side.

"I just talk more at a level about what he’s up to and show an interest, but I’m not really that active in what he’s doing day-to-day."

Graham is very proud of his son’s achievements so far.

"To see your kids succeed in whatever they’re choosing to pursue is very exciting and it just happens to be something that myself and my brother had previously been a part of, so that makes it pretty cool as well.”