Meet Angus Ta’avao, the joker in the All Blacks pack
Angus Ta’avao is changing the craggy face of stoic, stern All Blacks front rowers.
The 29-year-old tighthead may be at his first World Cup but the pressure of the occasion isn’t getting to him, judging by his amiable eagerness to ham it up for the cameras.
Ta’avao’s animated face at a recent pre-World Cup photo shoot set him apart from All Blacks propping predecessors, flinty fellows who tended to tacturnity as they shouldered their way to the bar and sausage rolls table.
There have been erudite All Blacks front rowers down the decades, including 1960s skipper and later business baron Wilson Whineray, the politically aware Ken Gray, Anton Oliver, the hooker turned environmentalist; and business graduates John Drake from the 1987 World Cup-winning squad, and Dave Hewett from the 2003 group.
But few have been as free-spirited as Ta’avao, who studied commerce at Auckland University while playing for the Blues early in his career.
Ta’avao channelled his inner Jim Hickey when he joined fellow All Blacks Joe Moody and Richie Mo’unga to help the Met Service deliver a weather forecast for the Rugby Championship test against the Springboks in Wellington in July.
‘‘It’s a good night,’’ Ta’avao deadpanned. ‘‘Your classic cold, windy Wellington night, but us big boys have got a little bit extra and we get to rug up nice and close for scrums so we should be all right . . it’s more for the fans.’’
After loosehead prop Moody and first five-eighth Mo’unga added their extras, Ta’avao extended his index finger to act as a weather pointer, highlighting the forecast’s key assets.
A natural around fans, Ta’avao is on the bench for tonight’s match. .