‘Crazy’ year for breakout prop
The concept of watching Monte Carlo’s fat cats cruising in their flash motors was the last thing on Karl Tu’inukuafe’s mind when hustling for a rugby job a year ago.
Nothing of the sort. Outside of the provincial scene in New Zealand, he was a relative unknown.
So, it would have seemed nonsensical to suggest that in the future he would be attending the World Rugby Awards in Monte Carlo on November 25 as a nominee for the breakthrough player of the year.
‘‘Just thinking about where I was a year ago, it is crazy for me,’’ he said. ‘‘I would never have thought it was possible.
‘‘When the manager came up and told me I had been nominated, I didn’t believe him. It wasn’t until I got tagged on social media and stuff and saw what it was about that I believed it. I was speechless, really.’’
The other nominees are South Africa’s Aphiwe Dyantyi and Ireland’s Jordan Larmour. Given his swift ascension, the New Zealander is surely in with a good shot at winning.
Has he been to Monte Carlo ? ‘‘I don’t even know where it is,’’ he said with a laugh.
The Tu’inukuafe story is a beauty. It’s certainly captured the attention of the international rugby community since he was called into an All Blacks squad beset by injuries to loosehead props. And it just keeps getting better for a man who has now played 11 tests.
As he prepares to start in arguably the most anticipated test of the year against Ireland in Dublin tomorrow morning, Tu’inukuafe, 25, is still coming to terms with what has unfolded.
A year ago he was looking for a rugby job. Somewhere in France appealed, maybe, because he previously earned some coin with the Narbonne club and they like their big props on the continent.
Instead, the former security guard ended up heading down the highway from Auckland to Hamilton, linking up with the Chiefs.
‘‘I had just finished playing Mitre 10 and was trying to find myself a contract overseas, maybe in France or something. But nothing was coming up,’’ he said in Dublin this week.
‘‘Tom Coventry, my coach from North Harbour, asked [Chiefs coach] Colin Cooper if there was space for someone just to get experience during the Super Rugby preseason.
‘‘Colin Cooper said ‘yeah, bring him over’. They had those unfortunate injuries and it turned into an opportunity for me.’’
Among the Chiefs looseheads to be unavailable because of injuries were All Blacks Kane Hames and Atu Moli. Tu’inukuafe, as a consequence, prospered.
He started getting a public profile when he admitted one of the reasons he began playing rugby again was because his doctor recommended he slice some timber off his 170 kilogram frame. On went the boots, and off came the kilos; at present he is listed at a svelte 135kg.
A sound scrummager, he does well to get around the track for such a big man and, despite being fasttracked into the All Blacks at short notice, he hasn’t been overwhelmed. The All Blacks selectors came calling as injuries started to bite, and Tu’inukuafe earned his first test cap as a replacement for Joe Moody against France in Auckland in June.
He couldn’t prevent the tears from flowing as God Defend New Zealand was belted out.
‘‘Every time we get up there and sing the national anthem, I get emotional. I think about how grateful I am to be here and how much I miss my grandparents and I wish they were here to see it, because they were the ones who brought my family over from Tonga. I just have a real grateful feeling.’’
Tu’inukuafe clearly has talent to burn. A member of the Wesley College first XV in south Auckland – All Blacks team-mate Nepo Laulala was also in the front row – he was invited to join age-group teams but struggled to pass the fitness tests.
He hoped his story could encourage others to achieve great things.
‘‘Whatever we do, hopefully it inspires and motivates people to get better for themselves health-wise or pretty much in life.
‘‘I’m pretty happy with how I am going, but my wife, Finehika, keeps me grounded. She keeps me in check, tells me to make sure I am still the same person.’’
Finehika is due to give birth to twins in January. Five-year-old son Marley will soon have some company. To Marley, his dad isn’t an All Black who defied the odds. He’s just the bloke who plays some kind of sport for a living.
‘‘He doesn’t understand yet, he thinks I play soccer. Every time he sees people play soccer, he is like ‘oh, that is what daddy does’.’’
‘‘When the manager came up and told me I had been nominated, I didn’t believe him. It wasn’t until I got tagged on social media and stuff and saw what it was about that I believed it. I was speechless, really.’’ All Black prop Karl Tu’inukuafe