Crusaders Player Residency Helps Studdert Take a Massive Leap Forward

01.01.2026College Women

Vivian Studdert gets set to pass the ball during the Crusaders Global player residency this past year.

Author: Alex Goff

When the Stanford University women's coaching staff approached Vivian Studdert with the idea that she go to New Zealand for the Crusaders Global Player Residency, her response was essentially, "who, me?"

Yes, you. A young scrumhalf with the two-time CRAA D1 champs, Studdert, who was born in Australia but moved to the USA when she was young, figured some more experienced players might be asked, but not her.

"I'd known that other players at Stanford had gone and had this great experience, but I'm relatively new to rugby, so I just never really expected that I'd be getting that invitation," Studdert said. "Once I got it, my first thought was, what, like, I definitely did not see me spending my summer playing rugby in New Zealand, but, you know, I got to talk to some of the girls who went, and I kind of just thought I'd treat it as almost like a study abroad kind of experience—learn a bunch of new stuff, spend some time in New Zealand."

She was worried about the cold—it was winter in New Zealand, after all, but she warmed to it all.

"I'm so glad I went. And I definitely had a different experience from all the people that I talked to before I left, but it was just something that I'm really happy that I ended up doing, because it was such a different, once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing that I was very blessed to have the opportunity to do."

I Got My Butt Kicked

Training with mostly men who were very experienced in the game, and under the watchful eye of the Crusaders coaches, headed by Grant Keenan, Studdert found herself challenged daily.

Stanford Director of Rugby Rich Ashfield didn't seem to have any doubts.

"I think that his kind of casual confidence in me made me feel like it was something that I could totally do," Studdert told GRR. "I did know[that] obviously there'd be a huge skill gap, since I'm so new to rugby, and all these people down in New Zealand who I was with were had been playing rugby for years, but I tried not to let it deter me. Definitely was every day was a big learning experience. I just tried not to let it be something that stopped me from learning, or stopped me from wanting to try things, because I kind of just got my butt kicked every day."

Vivian Studdert going through the paces at the Crusaders Global player residency this past year.

Studdert approached it all as she thinks about it now, with a little self-deprecating humor, but a hint of determination, too. You can see that in the full interview below.

"I was a bit of a fish out of water at the beginning, but I gained my ground," she said, adding that there being players from a variety of countries who were supportive, "was honestly one of my favorite parts. And now the fact that I just have friends who are like, dotted all over the world, it's something that's so special. They just turned out to be amazing people, and they all had great stories, like there was a lot of downtime, and I would just hear about their lives and what they were— my favorite part, was the people that I met down there."

Breaking it Down

On the rugby pitch, one of the challenges for Studdert was understanding how much work she needed to do. As they say, sometimes you don't know what you don't know. That's where Keenan and his program came in.

"Grant has a very specific coaching style in that he is willing to give you any kind of support that you need, but you just need to have a plan, and you need to know the right questions to ask, and kind of know how to utilize him as a resource, because he knows so much, and he's so helpful."

As a scrumhalf, Studdert sat down with Keenan to go over what kinds of skills she needed to know—"I really had no kicking game before I went to New Zealand and I learned that scrumhalves kicked ... and actually, there's a whole [specific] kick just for you—and then they broke it down into more manageable blocks.

"He gave us 10 minutes at the end of each field session, which was kind of 10 minutes to work on one skill by yourself or with some teammates. And he kind of took me aside in this 10 minutes and really helped me with my passing. And every time he took me aside, he'd be like, Alright, what do you want to work on today? And I'd be like, well, I want to work on my follow through, and I want to work on my speed at the ruck, something like that. And he would just be able to tailor my needs into a drill or something that we would just rep over and over and over again. Honestly, like, I don't even know how he did it. I would often ask to work on the same things, and we just do completely different drills, or completely different like, run some sort of play or something that I would just never think of. I definitely got a lot out of his coaching.

"We had this big board when you walk into the academy, and it had our names, and then there was a section for stuff that you wanted to work on this week, and then another section for how you would work on that stuff. So knowing what was coming in the week, we had Position-Specific Day on Monday, and then Defense Day and Attack Day. Some people would write, I want to work on my body height in contact on Tuesday, because that's Contact Day. So I really utilize thatyou just write it down whenever you thought of something or whenever it was going to be employed. Like, if I was going to write about something that I was going to do on Thursday, I would maybe write it on Tuesday or Wednesday. Choosing one specific thing and writing down how I was going to improve was extremely helpful, because I could almost always see a big jump in my skill level just on that one thing."

The upshot is that as the meat of Stanford's season approaches and the Cardinal are looking for a third straight D1 title, Studdert can bring what she has learned to her team.

"It has definitely made me such a stronger player, because I got back to Stanford and it felt like everything was almost moving in slow motion."

To learn more about the Crusaders Global Player Residency and how you can see your game take a massive leap forward, go to: https://www.crusadersglobal.com/programs/player-residency