“I try my best to be vulnerable”
THAT TEST debut against the Wallabies is still fresh in Anton Lienert-Brown’s mind. Trotting out as an All Black for the very first time, there was something surprisingly serene about the whole experience.
“The legs were going under the water and on top I probably looked quite calm,” the centre tells RW of that day in 2016. “For sure there were a lot of nerves but for some reason, when I ran out there, there was a sense of calm.
“In a way I felt as though I was chucked in the deep end a little bit, because we had so many injuries. I thought I’d be an injury replacement at best (for the first cap) and it turns out I started, in a pretty big match.
“But I’d been in the same situation as an 18-year-old, playing for the Chiefs against the Blue Bulls at Loftus (Versfeld). I was on the wing
