GREAT DANE
The fast and furious All Blacks hooker
AS A young kid from Paraparaumu stood in Christian Cullen’s bedroom, the die was cast. Cullen’s room was a sea of black, a montage of All Black team photos, jerseys, trophies and mementos the greatest fullback of the modern era and his proud parents had collected through his career.
For Dane Coles it was all his dreams packed into one overwhelming moment and it may go some way at least to explaining how a front rower runs like an outside back.
On the eve of the Rugby World Cup Coles is redefining the role of a hooker, but the man himself is reluctant to fully embrace the hype his recent test performances have created.
‘‘People have been giving me a bit of stick,’’ he said glancing around the team hotel to check if anyone from the tight-five were around to further revoke his front rower’s club membership.
‘‘It’s just the way it happens, the way the game evolves and I happen to be in the right place at the right time.’’
He is of course talking about two tries that left the rugby world aghast. First came a blistering midfield burst against South Africa in Johannesburg, then the barely believable 40m sprint against the Wallabies at Eden Park.
‘‘I never plan for those kind of things. It’s just the way the game evolves and I see the gap. That stuff is just a bonus,’’ Coles said.
‘‘That last one Dezzie [Dan Carter] just sucked in about four defenders and I seemed to be off his shoulder, but I’m happy to run that far and have a go.’’
Brilliant as they were, his two latest test tries weren’t isolated incidents when it comes to the Wellington rake breaking the mould of a tight forward.
It was also Coles who laid on the famous match-winning try for Ryan Crotty against Ireland in Dublin in 2013 when he ran down the tram-tracks like a veteran centre and off-loaded in the tackle.
It begs the question of how a bloke with that sort of pace and skill ended up at hooker?
Coles didn’t run track at school, or even consider himself particularly quick, but he does remember that day in Cullen’s bedroom, and he does remember trying to emulate his hero as a young rugby league player.
‘‘I didn’t actually meet him [Cullen], but I went to his parents’ place and they showed me his rugby room. That sticks out,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t know how I ended up there, or how old I was. I think my dad had gone round there to see his dad about something and I just remember just standing there thinking, ‘I want my room to like that one day’. I remember Cully’s old man [Chris] always just said to work hard.’’
Coles has done just that. When he was first selected for the All Blacks in 2012 his mother Sonya told The Dominion Post: ‘‘It’s no surprise to me. He’s worked so hard. He’s always overcome hurdles and it hasn’t been easy for him. But it is all he’s ever wanted. He was always outside with his father and his uncles making big holes in my backyard.’’
Steve Coles added his son had ‘‘bypassed the toy stage’’ and cut straight to balls and Dane, now 28, said it felt natural to have an oval one his hands. ‘‘I think it probably evolved from league,’’ he said. ‘‘I used to play a lot of league and you just had the ball in your hands a bit more. Also just playing with your mates. We played a lot of touch and rugby when we were young and it was just having a lot of fun. Maybe it’s just coming out in the way I play now.’’
His ability to score long range tries isn’t new. He burst on to the provincial scene with two tries off the bench against Otago in 2007, the second a 40m sprint to the corner but such feats are novel in the test arena.
‘‘I think I am [more comfortable]. I am expressing myself now and showing what I’m capable of, but if I’m not doing those core roles well I won’t be playing,’’ he said.
‘‘I have to nail off my scrums, my lineouts. That kind of running is a bonus, but I just need to make sure if I get those chances I nail them as well.’’
He acknowledges he might be targeted due to the fiery temperament that saw him sin binned at Twickenham last year, but said he wouldn’t be sucker punched twice.
And he’s bracing for tight, physical test matches at his first World Cup, but hesitated when asked if that would stifle the All Blacks ability to play the sort of open rugby he thrives on.
‘‘Yes and no. You can see on the end of year tours we still go over there and try to play a good brand of rugby. It all depends on who you are playing. I don’t think we’ll change too much about the way we play from this year. But if teams are doing that [playing tight] then we’ll have to adapt and do what the coaches plan for that week. We know what’s coming.’’
The question when it comes to Coles, is whether the same can be said of his opponents?
That last one Dezzie [Dan Carter] just sucked in about four defenders and I seemed to be off his shoulder, but I’m happy to run that far and have a go.
Dane Coles