Rennie’s parting shot
It’s turned out to be a particularly valuable parting gift from Dave Rennie to the Chiefs before he left for Glasgow.
The master coach may have taken all his game smarts abroad, but the tune up he gave Solomon Alaimalo late last season in regards to his gym work has turned into a masterstroke for 2018.
Plucked out of a struggling Northland team, Alaimalo got his first taste of Super Rugby last year, featuring in eight competition games and showing signs of class on whichever wing he was placed, which led to him claiming the club’s Rookie of the Year award.
Earlier this year he re-signed with the Chiefs until 2021, and that now looks to be a massive boon for the franchise, with the powerful and skilfull 1.96m, 99kg 22-year-old all of a sudden being talked about as All Blacks material, such is how impressive he’s been, at both wing
and fullback, so far this season.
Alaimalo leads the competition numbers for metres gained - his 683 are more than 100 clear of the next best - as well as clean breaks, with his 24 being eight ahead of team-mate Damian McKenzie, who is second equal.
His value is also shown by him being the only Chiefs player to have played all 80 minutes of their
seven matches so far. They are working him hard, and it was also his knuckling down in the offseason which has produced these standout displays.
‘‘To get stronger, that was the main thing,’’ Alaimalo said of his pre-season focus. ‘‘I got a boot up the [backside] at the end of last year, just about my work in the gym.
‘‘It was Rens, before he left. He just sort of challenged me on how hard I was working.
‘‘I sort of felt that just because I was at 100kg that maybe it just happened. But it was just about putting that work in in the gym as well, and I took it on board. It was a good message, really.
‘‘So that was a big emphasis in my off-season, and it’s sort of just translating on the field.’’
So, with heavier weights, and a higher intensity, Alaimalo’s training is certainly taking him to new places on the local rugby landscape.
While he doesn’t take too much notice that he’s a multiple category stats-leader, plenty of others do, as his team-mates ‘‘sort of give me a bit of chat here and there’’.
Then there’s the All Blacks talk. With his blockbusting efforts, setting up of other players and superbness under the high ball, he is sure to be piquing the interest of the national selectors. Again, not that Alaimalo is buying into it.
‘‘Not really. I’ve got a long way to go, I know I’ve still got heaps to learn,’’ he said.
‘‘A big thing for me is just my decision making at times.’’
For the record, the All Blacks coaches haven’t yet been in touch, and while Alaimalo is ‘‘pretty happy with how things are tracking’’ he is also aware how much stiff competition there is in terms of other up and comers, particularly someone like Ben Lam.
‘‘He’s been playing unreal eh. That’s the beauty of New Zealand, really, we’ve got a lot of talent, especially in the outside backs. I think that’s a good thing, we just breed them well.’’
For now, Alaimalo’s focus rests on getting the Chiefs back to winning ways, against the Reds in Brisbane on Saturday night, before they hit their second and final bye.
‘‘The boys are pretty hungry eh. We know that we can create opportunities, it’s just about finishing.’’
And look for Alaimalo to be right in the thick of that.