Kaino setting ABs standards
Jerome Kaino well remembers his own initiation into ‘‘All Blacks life’’.
Just 20 and with only one season of provincial rugby under his belt, the loose forward found himself on New Zealand’s 2004 end-of-year tour, playing in the finale against the Barbarians.
Now 33 and a two-time Rugby World Cup winner, Kaino is one of those players now grooming the next generation of All Blacks.
There’s a bunch in the squad at the moment all dreaming of the kind of career Kaino has carved out for himself.
‘‘What I learned is how the professionals – the guys like Richie [McCaw], Tana [Umaga], Anton Oliver was in the team at the time – how they operated and how the team operated and what I needed to do to get up to speed to be a professional rugby player and also be an All Black,’’ Kaino said. ‘‘It was a shock to the system, but I loved it and craved it and really wanted to be back in the All Black setup.’’
From uncapped players such as Rieko Ioane, Liam Coltman, Damian McKenzie and Anton LienertBrown, to others with only an appearance or two under their belt such as Kane Hames, Liam Squire, Elliot Dixon, James Parsons and Seta Tamanivalu, there are a swag of blokes hungry to learn the same lessons Kaino did.
He believes the modern player probably has a better handle on professional rugby than he did at the same age, although being an All Black does come with a unique set of pressures and expectations.
‘‘A lot of how we do things in the All Blacks hasn’t changed much, with the standards and values and how we want to play the game.
‘‘It’s up to us [older hands] to try and get players up to speed around how we do things here,’’ Kaino said.
‘‘They’re a little bit shy and standoff-ish, initially. Then you see them once they get their confidence and once they get an understanding of how we operate in the team, then they really come out of their shell and that’s what we want.
‘‘The new players we’ve got now, we really want them to feel comfortable as fast as possible and to get to grips with All Black life.’’
It’s not an exact science and some players do come to grips with things quicker than others. But if you’re prepared to watch and listen, you won’t go far wrong.
‘‘We’re not in their faces all the time, it’s more leading with actions. They see that and they see how you operate, they see how you do things around the environment on and off the field [and] for us that’s a lot more important than barking at them and telling them what to do,’’ Kaino said.
Any All Black watching the 70-test veteran play against Australia last Saturday, will have spotted how much it still means. Kaino played with real vigour and his reaction to scoring a first-half try said a lot.