'Nothing from up top': Billy Proctor staying patient after All Blacks XV tour
In September 2018, Billy Proctor created history when he signed a five-year deal with the Hurricanes.
At the time it was the longest contract a rookie had signed for a New Zealand Super Rugby franchise.
In 2023 Proctor was awarded Hurricanes Player of the Year. He amassed 850 minutes in a dozen appearances and carried on his stoic and clinical form with the All Blacks XV in Japan.
In the second match of the tour, he scored four tries in a 41-27 win over the Brave Blossoms in Tokyo.
"It was a few catches and put-downs," Proctor humbly told RugbyPass.
"I'd never scored a hat-trick in my career so it was pretty cool to get four tries.
"Japan was a cool experience. It's a very polite and interesting culture over there.
"It was 30 degrees every day which is a bit different to Wellington too."
With All Blacks David Havili, Braydon Ennor, Dallas McLeod, and Jack Goodhue all suffering injuries this season, and Alex Nankivell bound for Munster, the hot form of Procter was timely.
Had he heard from the National selectors?
"There’s been nothing from up top. I'm just going about my business. Doing that, the other stuff will take care of itself," Procter responded.
Understated, measured, and diligent are qualities that have made Procter enduringly appealing to coaches and teammates.
He flourished in Japan beside Stephen Perofeta and Jack Goodhue.
"Stephen's awesome. Cool and claim. He knows what he's doing, and can really light it up," Proctor acclaimed.
"Jack is world-class. We were still learning from each other when the tour ended. It was awesome to be in that environment."
Proctor has been in a professional rugby environment since he was a teenager. His brother Matt Proctor was previously a centre for the Hurricanes who made 66 appearances between 2013 and 2019 and was capped by the All Blacks in a 69-31 win against Japan in Toyko in 2019. TJ Perenara compared the two brothers in 2020.
"Billy is a lot like his brother. He's very very good defensively. He understands defensive reads, offensive shifts, makes good calls defensively.
"Then offensively, he's a big, strong kid who you put him in half a gap, he'll take it.”
Little appears to have changed but Billy has definitely matured.
“That feels like a long time ago. I’ve pretty much learned everything I know about rugby and life at the Hurricanes. It’s a privilege to be in this environment. It has its ups and downs. You’ve got to work hard every day, look to build all the time.”
Billy has scored a dozen tries in 46 games for the Hurricanes and will shortly be a vital cog in the Wellington Lions defense of the NPC and Ranfurly Shield titles won in 2022. Proctor has featured 48 times for Wellington, including wins in 10 out of 11 appearances last year.
“That was a memorable one. It was pretty cool to be a part of a run championship. We definitely have what it takes to repeat. We will be building slowly before peaking at the end of the season hopefully.”
The Wellington Lions start their NPC campaign on Saturday in Palmerston North against Manawatu. All Blacks Asafo Aumua, Dominic Bird, and Julian Savea will likely be in the match-day squad.
Proctor re-signed with the Hurricanes for another two seasons.
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Some interesting stats that just proved what my first impression of NZ’s drive to speed up Rugby Union would amount to - fine margins here and there to cut a few seconds off the game and nothing else. To do more there would have to be wholesale changes to the game like doing away with scrums, lineouts and bringing back the ELV’s to have free kicks instead of penalties. Very little chance of it happening but, in the end, Ruby Union would be a 15-man version of Rugby League. There are reasons why Rugby Union is globally more popular that Rugby League and what NZ are also not considering is the unintended consequences of what they want to achieve. This will end up turning Rugby Union into a low value product that will not be acceptable to the paying public. If people really wanted a sped-up version of rugby, then why is Rugby Union globally way more popular than Rugby League? Rugby lovers all over the world are also not stupid and have seen through what NZ are trying to achieve here, selfishly to bring back their glory days of dominance over every other nation and compete with Rugby League that is dominant in Australasia. NH countries just don’t have the cattle, or the fantastic weather needed to play like NZ SR franchises do so good luck to whoever has to try and convince the NH to accept going back to the days of NZ dominance and agreeing to wreck the game in the process. I have serious doubts on the validity of the TV stats presented by GP. All they did was expand the broadcasting base by putting it on free to air, not even any indication of arresting the continued drop in viewership. Match day attendance goes hand in hand with broadcast ratings so if there was an increase in the one you should expect to see it with the other. However, the drop in match day attendance is very evident to the casual highlights package viewer. The only club who looks to be getting solid attendance is the Drua. I am calling it now that NZ’s quest to speed up the game will fail and so will the vote on the 20-minute red card.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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