West Brom’s Bristol loanee Wood: Plenty of NZ talent coming through

Chris Wood says it is great to see the amount of younger New Zealand players starting to come through the ranks in the UK.

The West Bromwich Albion striker, now on loan with Bristol City, knows how tough it is to make it back in his homeland as most of the focus is placed on rugby but he feels that the performance of the All Whites at the 2010 World Cup, when they finished the only unbeaten team, has helped improve things from a national team perspective.

"The last World Cup boosted it tremendously," Chris told Bristol City Player. "We're predominantly known as a rugby nation, so we need to step up and put football on the map over there.

"It's a lot different than over here, a lot more laid back. It's not a very big league, so you have to move country to find out if you're any good.

"That's what I had to do and most of the young players in New Zealand will have to do.

"There's a lot of youngsters coming through, a lot of good friends of mine that I've played with in my age group, so hopefully they get their chance and they can take it."

 
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