Flying Kiwis will keep you up to date on the endeavours of New Zealand sports folk overseas. Not the battlers, mind you, but the genuine overlooked and underappreciated superstars that for some ridiculous reason don’t get a look in on local media.

Chris Wood – Leicester City (English Championship)

This column’s gonna be a little skint for a while, as Chris Wood was this week diagnosed with a hamstring injury, which he picked up after coming on as a sub in Leicester’s previous match vs Brighton. It’ll keep him out for at least four weeks according to manager Nigel Pearson. It’s a huge blow to Woody, and also to his team, as they’re now dangerously short on depth up front over the congested Christmas/New Years fixtures. In that time the Foxes take on Manchester City in the League Cup, and Stoke in the FA Cup third round. Rumours swirling are that Leicester will move for free agent Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, the former Wolves striker, for some cover. Leicester drew 1-1 with Burnley this week, putting them third on the table, three points off top.

Up Next: The City game for the lads, but for Wood a few physio appointments await

Tommy Smith – Ipswich Town (English Championship)

Thank God for Tommy Smith. Where the other All Whites at this level are all missing in action, Smith continues to be one of the first names on the Ipswich team sheet, having not been subbed once this season, and the only games he’s missed were because of All Whites duty. Ipswich kept pace with the playoff hopefuls with a 0-0 draw away to Nottingham Forest Sunday morning. Smith was calm and assured in earning the clean sheet, playing his role well. He blocked a shot, cleared several floating crosses, made key interceptions and played the offside trap nicely. A typically solid day at the office. His biggest flaw is his distribution from defence, where he tends to opt for the safety first concept, relying on long balls forward to clear the lines.

Up Next: Home to Watford 4am Sunday morning (NZT)

Marco Rojas – VfB Stuttgart (Bundesliga)

Can someone put out an APB for Marco Rojas? Nobody seems to know where he is. Presumably he’s hard at work in Stuttgart trying to get match fit, but we’re not seeing the evidence. It’s a huge ask to expect him to crack the Bundesliga without having to put in the hard yards first, so we can’t be surprised that we haven’t seen anything of him yet, but one would have thought maybe a trip to the reserves would be worthwhile? Not so, apparently. The reserve grades in Germany are different to most places in that the reserve teams (in this case ‘Stuttgart II’) don’t have their own league, but actually compete in the lower leagues as their own entities, effectively acting as affiliate clubs. Players are loaned out to these teams and can be recalled whenever, just like the parent/feeder club system that we all know so well from hours and hours of Football Manager game time. That’s how Stuttgart did it a few years back with a young Sami Khedira. (By the way, Sami’s younger bro Rani’s just been given his big break into the Stuttgart first team). So it may be a while until we hear from Marco Rojas, but it’s all invaluable experience. And as soon as he gets on the park The Niche Cache will be the first to tell you.