The Kaino factor

The end was low-key but the 83-cap loosie was a formidable figure.

The anti-climactic winding down of All Blacks loose forward Jerome Kaino’s career is a reminder that, in professional sport, Richie McCaw-style happy endings are the exception rather than the rule.

McCaw led the All Blacks to victory in the 2015 World Cup final, then walked away, apparently without a backward glance. Kaino played a prominent part in two successful World Cup campaigns, in the process establishing himself as one of the best blindside flankers of his era, but his international career ended with a whimper rather than a bang.

In late 2016, Kaino played in the unfamiliar position of lock in the loss to Ireland in Chicago. While he started all three tests in the drawn series against the 2017 British and Irish Lions, for various reasons he ended up being as much a spectator as a participant. He missed last year’s Rugby Championship after an Australian tabloid dragged his private life into the public domain and injury restricted him to a solitary non-test appearance on the end-of-year tour. He’d harboured hopes of an All Blacks swansong in the recent series against France but, at 35 and about to head overseas, he was never a likely pick.

The proud Aucklander deserved better than to make his final appearance at

Eden Park in a meaningless clash of the Super Rugby also-rans before an embarrassingly paltry crowd but the lowkey ending shouldn’t detract from what was a tremendous career. Although he conducted himself with dignity, he was an uncompromising and therefore, for fans, comforting figure in the black jersey. To his coaches’ delight, he made himself as formidable as Jerry Collins, without adopting the idiosyncrasies that made his late predecessor as much of a handful off the field as on it.