Preparing school players to be pros
St Kentigern first XV coach Tasesa Lavea feels part of his job is preparing the best players for the professional environment.
The former Blues and Chiefs first-five has recently taken over from his brother, Tai (now an assistant coach at Auckland Rugby), after five years in a similar position at King’s College.
He knows some of the players under him will go on to play provincial, Super and even international rugby, as John Afoa, Josevata Rokocoko, Jerome Kaino and Matt Duffie did.
But Lavea also tries to get them ready for the professional environment.
‘‘With the big schools around New Zealand, there’s an awareness from coaches and headmasters that it’s an early career option for young, talented rugby players,’’ Lavea said.
‘‘So we do our best to try to build good traits in them, like a good work ethic, being a good team guy. I talk to them about things that make a good professional, like being on time and giving 100 per cent at training. You can do all the work you want on skills, but when you’re getting them ready to go into an academy or sign for a Super Rugby team, you want to make sure they’ve got all the good personal traits.
‘‘The talented year 12s, they’ve probably got something in front of them straight away from a Super Rugby franchise or an ITM Cup team.
‘‘So their mindset and thinking in year 13 is they know they’ve got something post school, which is great. But you still have to give them a massive push with their education, they’ve got to leave with their credits to get a trade.
‘‘It’s a young man’s sport now, but they are still trying to find themselves as young men and grow up.’’
NRL clubs are notorious for trying to sniff out the best talent on this side of the Tasman. Lavea himself was signed by the Melbourne Storm at an early age and went on to play for the Kiwis, before returning to the 15-man code.
Agents are trying to get players signed up as soon as they can. When they are in their mid-teens, they can have an NRL agent – rugby agents are trying to snap up players early too.
But Lavea doesn’t have a problem with agents getting involved.
‘‘Some are too young to have agents, but some families actually prefer to have them,’’ he said.
‘‘They don’t know how to talk to a union, or the ins and outs of a contract. So they feel comfortable having someone who knows the legal side of things and has a relationship with the unions,’’ he said.
‘‘One of the things that doesn’t get focused on is that some of it is actually driven by the parents, not by the boy.
‘‘The parents are the ones who know they could be having a career post-school and they’re the ones who contacts schools around the country to get scholarships for their sons, because they know it’s a good pathway.
‘‘So it’s also about upskilling the parents as well. Not telling them what to do, but giving them some resources and reading to help them out.
‘‘In terms of agents coming into schools, there aren’t any secret meetings in car parks.
‘‘They just come in an communicate with us, so too do the Super Rugby teams and the ITM Cup teams.
‘‘The Crusaders were here a couple of weeks ago. So things are changing and everyone’s recruiting heavily.’’