LA Giltinis signed Christian Poidevin for the 2021 Major League Rugby season. The 22-year-old back-row is 6’1″ and 216 lbs.
Christian is from Coogee, New South Wales, Australia, and attended Newington College, where he played rugby. He was introduced to rugby at an early age, as his father Simon, had 59 caps for Australia, won the Rugby World Cup in 1991, and was the team’s captain.
Christian was the Randwick Colts 1st grade captain in 2018, and he was honored with the Best & Fairest Award as the competition’s best played with the Colts going undefeated.
During the 2019 season he started in 16 matches for Randwick in the Shute Shield, and also played in one match for the Sydney Rays in the National Rugby Championship. In 2020 he also played four times for the Sydney Rays, and had 11 starts for Randwick in the Shute Shield. Christian also gained experience playing against Argentina in Randwick’s loss in 2019.
Christian continued his education after leaving Newinton College and this year earned a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of New South Wales.
LA Giltinis Comments
“What has really dragged me to this is the amazing opportunity of the LA experience to play in an awesome program with top coaches like Darren Coleman and Stephen Hoiles,” Poidevin said.
“There’s so much knowledge in the coaches and playing group to improve my rugby.
“Training full-time for the first time means I can get my body to the next level with (Head of Performance) Mick Stephen, whose done strength-and-conditioning at my club Randwick and the NSW Waratahs Academy.
“Out of all the destinations I could choose in MLR, Los Angeles would be top of my list.
“There’s a winning culture for sports teams in LA and we want to add our own stamp to that in rugby with a new club.”
Poidevin is a mobile 6’1’ (1.85m), 216lb (98kg) flanker with well-rounded skills and loves playing the attacking style that the Giltinis plan to thrill new rugby fans with.
The chance with the Giltinis comes at an ideal time with Poidevin completing a civil engineering degree at the University of NSW in Sydney.
His father gave a strong thumbs-up to develop his rugby with the Giltinis where young Poidevin has an instant connection with lock recruit Nathan Den Hoedt, his 2020 Randwick captain.
“As a rugby player, Dad’s work ethic was second to none and he had a big attitude which meant always putting in for the bloke beside you,” Poidevin said.
“If he had to do something, he’d do it 100 per cent, not half-arse it, and that is something I want people to see in the way I play.
“There is already a good culture building at the Giltinis amongst players from around the world and that’s just through our online group chats.”
Hoiles has followed Poidevin’s rise from his standout year with Randwick’s 2018 Colts team. “Christian is coming off an outstanding club season with Randwick and joining a professional program will further bring out his strong features…carrying really well through contact and good on-ball work,” Hoiles said.“He’s grown up with the surname of a famous father but Christian is becoming a serious player in his own right.”
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