Selections offer hope to weekend warriors
If any weekend warriors have the urge to shout an All Black a glass of raspberry over the coming days, they could consider circumnavigating the long line of established test stars.
Shannon Frizell and Karl Tu’inukuafe might deserve that freebie, instead.
Because the duo have provided the best narratives in recent weeks, and perhaps motivated a multitude of talented club players to keep plugging away in the hope of cracking the next level.
Since rugby turned professional in the mid-1990s the monitoring of talented players, starting from the teenage years, has become a serious business. The best are invited to attend national age-group camps, join academies and sign contracts with provincial and Super Rugby teams.
These young athletes get sucked into elite rugby machines. They are given gym programmes, receive specialist coaching and offered appointments with nutritionists so they can learn how best to fuel their bodies to become the human equivalent of a high performance racing car.
Many stars are sourced from 1st XVs, with rugby and league scouts watching games on TV or sitting on the sidelines.
Some players fall through the cracks. There can be multiple reasons for this. Maybe it is because they don’t get picked for the top school team, or they aren’t that interested in rugby if other things start occupying their leisure time.
Loosehead prop Tu’inukuafe was a man-child at school, representing Wesley College and Counties Manukau age-group teams at a weight of around 135kg. Then he gave the game away because of family commitments, and stacked on the beef.
The way Tu’inukuafe, 25, tells it, a doctor’s appointment changed his life. Losing weight needed to be a priority; at 170kg he wasn’t doing himself any favours.
So it was back to rugby and, to cut a long story short, he earned first-class caps with North Harbour, was brought in as injury cover for the Chiefs this year and is now an All Black because they needed another specialist loosehead.
When he takes the field as a replacement for Joe Moody against France in Dunedin, Tu’inukuafe will earn his third test cap.
Frizell hasn’t been hot-housed in academies like many of his acolytes in the All Blacks. Born and raised in Tonga, he played football and represented his country at under-17 level as a goalie. Then came rugby.
The decision to join Tasman in 2015 set Frizell, 24, on to a career path few would have thought possible when he was playing the round-ball game in Tonga.
Tonight the 24 year old Highlanders back rower will earn his first test cap in the All Blacks No 6 jersey. It will also be a proud moment for Tasman, the provincial union NZ Rugby wanted to cull from its top-tier competitions a decade ago.
In the last two seasons Tasman have contributed six men to the All Blacks. When Tasman scrapped for its survival against NZ Rugby, it was a classic David versus Goliath moment.
The wee bloke succeeded when the big boys at HQ in Wellington wanted it to fail. You couldn’t call Tu’inukuafe and Frizell battlers. Clearly they have talent, but determination and grit have also been vital ingredients to make them a success.
Keep cool and stay calm, but don’t stray from your natural game.
That’s the message from captain Sam Whitelock to the crop of players set to make their All Blacks debuts against France in Dunedin tonight.
Whitelock, who will play his 99th test, has four uncapped players to keep an eye on, including flanker Shannon Frizell and centre Jack Goodhue, who will both start. Firstfive Richie Mo’unga and lock Jackson Hemopo will come off the bench.
‘‘The biggest challenge for any person going into a new team, especially the All Blacks, is playing their natural game. They’ve been selected for a reason, they’re good footballers, so hopefully they just go out and play their natural game,’’ Whitelock said.
‘‘Those guys are super excited, as we all were in our first, and we still are. It probably makes my job easier, they’re so enthusiastic to learn and to do well. If anything, you’ve got just got to tell them to relax a little bit.’’
The All Blacks wrapped up preparations for the final match of the three-test series with their captain’s run at Forsyth Barr Stadium yesterday.
Whitelock labelled the week’s preparation as ‘‘pretty good’’. However, similar words were said ahead of last weekend’s ragged win in the second test in Wellington.
While the All Blacks are favoured to wrap up the series 3-0, you get the feeling the public won’t accept anything but a razor sharp performance and a convincing win.
Another bumbling performance will only stoke the fire of people such as South African rugby pundit Mark Keohane, who has already predicted the All Blacks will finish behind the Springboks and Wallabies in this year’s Rugby Championship.
‘‘We need to go out and play well,’’ Whitelock said when asked if his team needed to make a statement.
‘‘No matter what’s applied to us from outside, it’s us on the inside that are really driving it. I’m excited to see what the boys can come up with.’’
The All Blacks’ leadership group hasn’t hid the fact they didn’t adjust to the French tactics and match circumstances in Wellington, something Whitelock reiterated from a captain’s point of view on the eve of the third test.
‘‘A couple of things. I’ve got to keep getting better the whole time. With the captaincy, making sure no matter what happens, if we’re up and down ourselves with the yellow cards, we have a good plan.
‘‘That’s something we probably weren’t quite as sharp as we needed to be [last week].’’
The other thing Whitelock stressed was the importance of not getting ahead of themselves, no matter how tempting it was to go wide early and often under the lid.
In other words, the All Blacks need to dig in at the breakdown, with and without the ball.
‘‘Here, because the ground is always hard and the weather is nice and still . . . if you give teams fast ball, it’s very, very hard to stop them.
‘‘I’m sure both sides will be putting a lot of energy into that area and it will be interesting to see how it goes compared to last week.’’