By Jon Geddes

THEY are the Beasties of Rotterdam who are sharing their experience to inspire rugby players in Holland.

Eastern Suburbs first graders Will Maddocks, Sam Fogarty and Will Paterson are the rugby globetrotters from Woollahra playing with the Rotterdam club in Holland.

And State of Origin star Angus Crichton made a massive impact the night he trained with the team. More on that later.

Maddocks has been with Rotterdam since 2022, and after some initial reservations about making the big switch, quickly settled into the new surroundings.

The Australian Sevens representative has been back home to attend the wedding of his brother, Jack, the former Wallabies back who is now playing in France.

Maddocks told Rugby News the story of the trio’s amazing footy adventure just before he flew back to Holland on Saturday to prepare for what will be his third season with Rotterdam.

“It was a bit unexpected, but it has been fun and we love the town and we love the people,” he said.

“It was very easy to assimilate – you play a game, you have a beer with the boys and they are really good blokes and just love having fun.

“I’ve got a lot of really good mates for life now.”

The Aussie contingent will grow in the coming season with Northern Suburbs’ hooker Blake Males and prop Brady Dawson joining the club.

“They will be very handy for us,” Maddocks said, who is the team’s midfield general at No.10.

RUGBY DUTCH-STYLE 

MADDOCKS said Dutch rugby was definitely slower than in the Shute Shield.

“Some of the teams are pretty good, some of the teams are pretty average,” he said. “You get some guys in a team who could play first grade in Sydney and they are playing with guys who would struggle to play fourth grade.”

He said in the finals the standard of games could be around second grade.

While rugby is certainly not a mainstream sport in Holland, Maddocks said the supporters are fanatical about it. He revealed an incredible statistic that the largest number of visitors at last year’s World Cup in France came from England, followed by Australia and then the Netherlands.

Besides playing, Maddocks and Fogarty took over as Rotterdam’s backs coaches last season. The Aussies have introduced video review sessions to help improve the players’  performance. 

“They enjoy it because they really want to get better,” Maddocks said.     

In their first season the team finished seventh out of 12 and last year they finished third, after losing a semi-final after the bell.

THE ROOSTER CROWS AT TRAINING

THE Rotterdam players will never forget the night Roosters’ star Angus Crichton made a guest appearance at the club team along with his close mate, Jack Maddocks.

“He was over in Rotterdam last October and he and Jack both trained with the team, which was funny having a Kangaroo and a Wallaby,” Maddocks said.

“He was running in the centres for us in a full contact session.

“There was a second grade Dutch guy and when they ran a move, Angus shot out of the line and just levelled this poor guy. He was down on the ground for about two minutes looking for his ribs.

“To be fair, I don’t think he tried to follow through. But he is just so big and physical it was like the bloke ran into a brick wall.

“He was pretty fired up and he really wanted to play with us.

‘‘The boys all got a kick out of it having him there which was nice.”

 CHILLING OUT

ONE of the major things the Easts’ boys had to adapt to was the weather, which is nothing like a brisk Saturday arvo at Woollahra Oval.

“We have games cancelled because the fields freeze,” Maddocks said. “The worst game was when it was three degrees and raining sideways.

“Some of the training is at negative two and you have to train on the astro because the grass is frozen. So it does get tough.”

THE SWANSONG AT WOOLLAHRA 

MADDOCKS, who recently turned 30, plans to finish his career back at Easts, the club which means so much to him.

“I love playing in Sydney, the Shute Shield is probably the best domestic comp I have seen, but it is really nice to do something different, stand on your own two feet a bit more and get out of what you know,” he said.

“I’m on about 90 games (at Easts) so I need to get to 100.”