At sixes and sevens: Tough year for Laidlaw
Highlanders halfback Aaron Smith is a grateful man, and he is playing in a side that is performing with a new attitude and gratitude.
In Smith’s words, the Highlanders took a look in the mirror during the lockdown period, realised how lucky they were, and put in some real mahi to give something back to the people of the Deep South when Super Rugby Aotearoa started.
However, the intense and hugely popular Kiwi derbies – by Thursday after the Highlanders had already sold 18,000 tickets for the Crusades game today – are coming with a price tag for the athletes who take part in them.
‘‘These games of Super Rugby Aotearoa, they’re different,’’ Smith said. ‘‘They are physical. The boys are still banged up until about Wednesday.
‘‘I’m glad the fans love it but I’m going to be surprised to see who’s still standing after this comp because everyone is going hammer and tong.’’
Super Rugby Aotearoa’s toll on the players has not been a talking point of the competition so far, but there is no doubt New Zealand Rugby will be closely monitoring the players’ wellbeing.
NZ chairman Brent Impey told Stuff the competition is ‘‘not sustainable’’ as looks forward to 2021 and beyond, trying to seek a balance between factors such as high performance and the bottom line.
Yet, Smith said, there is no doubt that fans are lapping up the weekly derbies as if they were All Blacks tests.
‘‘We’re well aware,’’ Smith said. ‘‘You’re getting a lot of texts from people you haven’t heard from in a while.
‘‘For me it’s from people you usually only hear from where there’s a big test match . . . that kind of hype.’’
The buzz around the competition will carry the players through tough times out on the paddock, but Smith also said there was a significant amount of work going on behind the scenes to keep the players fresh.
Counting down the days while in quarantine provided Clark Laidlaw with a chance to reflect on the good, bad and the bizarre.
New Zealand sevens men’s coach Laidlaw was scheduled to be released from his 14 days in an Auckland hotel this week, having arrived back from Scotland where he had attended his mother Joy’s funeral.
Laidlaw was grateful to get back to his homeland to visit his mum before she succumbed to cancer, and provide support for his father, former British and Irish Lions and Scotland halfback Roy.
It was while in quarantine that Laidlaw learned the NZ sevens men’s team had been declared the winner of the World Rugby sevens series title after six tournaments, with the rest of the tournament cancelled due to Covid-19.
For obvious reasons Laidlaw, who was appointed coach by NZ Rugby in late 2016, would have rather won the series in a more orthodox fashion. But the pandemic put paid to that.
‘‘You have a lot of time to think about stuff,’’ Laidlaw said from his Auckland hotel this week. ‘‘It has been a pretty tough couple of weeks.
‘‘My mother had terminal cancer. She hadn’t had it for long, only three months. It was good to get home before she passed away, in the current climate.
‘‘So it was good to see her and support my dad and family, and spend some time with them.’’
Upon his return to Mt Maunganui, where the sevens programme is based, Laidlaw will look at a working calendar that is stacked with uncertainty.
The Olympics, which were supposed to start in Tokyo later this month, have been delayed until next year and World Rugby can’t finalise details of the next world series because of the pandemic.
Laidlaw hopes to fill the holes in the schedule by getting his players involved in the Red Bull Ignite7, an event that in less uncertain times invites promising male and female athletes to participate in a tournament in the hope of qualifying for a NZ sevens development camp.
An Oceania tournament, which could involve teams from Australia, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and New Zealand, is another possibility if the borders are opened.
‘‘If we can get a Red Bull, and maybe an Oceania tournament, before Christmas that is not a bad spot to be. But, who knows, what the world series will look like with the preparations for July [the Olympics] next year.’’
For now, contracted sevens players have been told to represent their Super Rugby teams or grassroot clubs in the 15s version of the code.
Covid-19 has had a significant impact on the men’s and women’s sevens programmes which have lost staff who were based in Wellington, or worked as contractors.
‘‘There will be staff that will have three months without pay,’’ Laidlaw said. ‘‘For both teams I think there are only four staff over the next three months.
‘‘So, yes, we have been hit massively hard. We have to adapt to that and cope with that. It has been bloody difficult for those staff.’’
Laidlaw said it is now a matter of waiting until October 1 to see what the financial models for the future will look like. Paid staff are only working three days a week.
Winning a gold medal in Tokyo was the top priority for 2020. But Laidlaw’s meticulous plans have since been replaced by layers of uncertainty.
Although he is hopeful, he can’t confirm whether he will be able to select Super Rugby players Caleb Clarke (Blues), Etene Nanai-Seturo (Chiefs), Salesi Rayasi (Hurricanes) and Scott Gregory (Highlanders) for the sevens programme next year.
Clarke, given his performances on the left wing for the Blues in Super Rugby Aotearoa, is now considered hot property; which means the Blues and the All Blacks coaches may encourage him to concentrate on 15s.
Laidlaw was restricted to selecting one player from each of the five Super Rugby teams after the June 10 2019 deadline had been provided to a 40-strong group of All Blacks and Super Rugby players.
It was then up to the players to decide whether they had the desire, and believed they had the potential, to play sevens and win a gold medal.
The five Super Rugby players who were originally selected have intimated they are keen to return for the 2021 Games, but their clubs will have to be consulted before decisions are made.
‘‘Who knows, some of them are playing pretty well aren’t they? If they become an All Black in the next six months, it might change the picture,’’ Laidlaw said in a clear reference to Clarke. ‘‘But that is part of it, that is part of rugby. That is part of where our programme fits with New Zealand rugby.’’
Laidlaw accepts he just has to be patient. For now he will just let his contracted players stay match fit by playing for their clubs, and hope a schedule can be mapped for 2021. ‘‘Who knows what next year looks like? We all have just got to keep an open mind.’’
‘‘Our trainers are already starting to monitor our impacts, how long we stay on our feet,’’ he said.
‘‘We all came back [from lockdown] running PBs, and it’s about trusting what the trainers say.
‘‘You may feel like doing more on certain days but you’ve got to listen to your trainers around pulling back.
‘‘As you know you can burn out and if it’s derby games every week you will burn out.’’
‘‘I’m going to be surprised to see who’s still standing after this comp because everyone is going hammer and tong.’’ Aaron Smith
The lockdown provided Smith, 31, with a window to get quality conditioning work into his body. In a typical year, he joins the Highlanders in January, and by his own admission has to play catchup with the rest of the squad.
However, the Highlanders’ mental shift during the lockdown has been as important as their physical gains, and Smith said he had taken the lead in making sure the players connected with their supporters.
‘‘For us as Highlanders it’s about representing our people here who are going through tough times or who have not come out of Covid as well as others,’’ Smith said.
‘‘As rugby players we’ve been able to come back to work as normal but it’s not the same for everyone.
‘‘But people are still coming to our games and supporting us.
‘‘I know as a leader in this group I’m make sure we’re very thankful to the public . . . that we clap the crowd, sign as much stuff as we can at home games, and when we are at promos we’re present, we’re excited to be there and give it everything.
‘‘If we can bring a bit of joy for two hours a week for our fans . . . I’ll be pretty happy to do that.’’