Andrew Van der Heijden

The Falcons have taken major steps towards saving their season in the past few days, firstly by starting the LV= Cup campaign with a win, and now by announcing the signing of Auckland second row Andrew Van der Heijden.

Over the past year or two Van der Heijden has become an established player for Auckland in the ITM Cup, and his profile shows that he has played 59 times in provincial rugby as well as winning three Super 14 caps for the Blues, where he competed with Ali Williams and Anthony Boric for a spot in the side.  Indeed, he once came off the bench and played alongside Jimmy Gopperth against the Brumbies.

His last appearance in New Zealand was in Auckland’s 49-10 win over Tasman that rounded off the regular ITM Cup season, but Van der Heijden missed the play-offs due to a fractured arm so it will be a few weeks before we get to see him in action, a cruel blow in the continued absence of James Hudson.

For the record, Auckland lost their semi-final to Waikato at Eden Park, who then went on to lose to Canterbury in the final last Friday, the South Island side winning their third successive title.

There is not a great deal of information to be found about our new signing on the internet, but Mark Sorenson had not played Super 14 rugby when he joined us and he went on to be player of the year in his first full season at Kingston Park.  Zorro remains one of the most popular players KP has seen in the past 15 years, and therefore there is every reason to be optimistic about Van der Heijden.