If it ain’t broke, it ain’t Matt Duffie
To hear Matt Duffie tell his own story, you might wonder how on earth he ever made it on to Steve Hansen’s All Blacks November touring squad.
The guy is not just bereft of swag, seemingly incapable of braggadocio and probably one of the great fairytale stories of this rugby season, but he is beautifully honest about what he perceives to be his own limitations.
After being named to make his first appearance off the bench for the All Blacks in Sunday’s November tour opener against the Barbarians at Twickenham, the 27-year-old Aucklander said he was still trying to figure out how he’d made it to the equivalent of rugby’s promised land.
Remember this is a guy who, by the time he was 24, had been through eight surgeries and two major ACL ruptures. He was more broken than Humpty Dumpty after his worst tumble.
But somehow, after going a remarkable 847 days between firstgrade appearances with the Melbourne Storm in the NRL, and having to teach himself to run all over again, he made it back to the park, and soon enough across the codes to rugby where he’d always had a burning ambition to return.
‘‘I never really thought about being an All Black because, frankly, I never felt worthy of the honour,’’ said Duffie, who was a schoolboy rugby star at Auckland’s Saint Kentigern College, but was plucked straight out of those ranks by Craig Bellamy’s Storm.
‘‘Other people were saying ‘you’re close, you’re close’, but it wasn’t till my name got called out I thought ‘wow, this is really going to happen’. ‘‘It’s an amazing feeling.’’ But he swears when he came back to rugby to join the Blues at the start of the 2016 season, he never envisioned this moment.
‘‘All I wanted was to do well for the Blues. I just wanted Blues rugby to be the best. Still do. After I signed someone said ‘what about the All Blacks?’ It was all a bit farfetched as I had so much to learn and the path is so long.’’
He has also had to battle his own limitations after all those surgeries and rehabs.
‘‘I’m not the same player physically as I was before. I’ve probably lost a yard of pace, but mentally I’m 10 times better after going through that adversity.’’
He has learned to embrace his limitations, and it has seen him play his way on to the All Blacks after standout campaigns with the Blues and North Harbour in 2017.
‘‘The old rugby saying is it’s 90 percent mental and I’m a massive believer in that,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s a good thing, too, because if it was physical I’d probably be out the back door.’’
Coach Steve Hansen loves the story of perseverance and persistence.
‘‘He’s not a baby, he’s been through the mill, has had some horrific injuries, and had to climb back on the horse and show some strength. You’d expect someone like that to cope with what happens.’’
Duffie grins heartily at the prospect. After a busy week battling jetlag, and then proving himself on the training paddock as ‘‘new kid on the block’’, his body is hurting a little. Of course, he’s no stranger to pain.