HOME TO TEACH (AND WIN)
Campbell Burnes talks to one of the more important offseason signings by the Blues as they seek the heights.
It may not be apparent when he’s packing down at scrumtime, but Angus Ta’avao now plays rugby like a man who has been given a second shot at his career.
One of the marquee signings for the Blues is back at his first franchise with a spring in his step, which is not bad for a 34-year-old with 23 All blacks Tests and nearly 250 first-class games under his belt.
In 2022, his career was unravelling. He was concussed and red carded in an accidental head clash in the Dunedin Test against Ireland. His final appearance for the men in black came weeks later in Mbombela. They lost amidst much gnashing of teeth.
Ta’avao went back to the NPC with Auckland and then badly injured his neck in the quarter-final against North Harbour. He thought his rugby days were done.
“when the injury happened, I said to our physio, Mark Plummer, ‘I’m done, I’m retiring.’ It was the scariest moment of my life,” he says.
Ta’avao underwent surgery from Peter robertson. He clearly did a top job. but it was a slow process. Luckily, the tighthead prop was still contracted to the Chiefs for 2023 as he went through the long, trying rehab. Then he had to deal with atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat, a not uncommon condition for athletes. now he wears an Apple watch to keep tabs on his heart rate. “Hopefully I’m all in the clear now.” There were dark times, uncertain times. but Ta’avao came out the other side.
“I’m grateful, lucky to have a good support system behind me, family and friends. The reason I came back up here (to Auckland) was to have that family support. My wife’s family’s up here, my family’s up here. we’re content.”
After six years at the Chiefs, where they were mostly playoffs locks and often championship contenders, Ta’avao is back home, where he made an uncertain start to his fulltime professional career. He was at the blues from 2012-15 when the tail-end of the Pat Lam era morphed into the stagnant John Kirwan era. The blues couldn’t beat Kiwi teams and went an astonishing nine years out of the playoffs.
now they have an established home base in Greenlane and are not only playoffs certainties but championship contenders.
“you’ve seen it the last few years in how good the blues have been but haven’t quite gone all the way,” Ta’avao says.
“I haven’t been in that environment, but this year I can just feel the drive. Vern (Cotter) is leading that and driving that competitive edge. Are we here to take part or to win? There is competition in every position. I’ve seen some really good characteristics in this team. There’s obvious talent. I don’t think that’s ever been questioned. we’ve got everything there to do it this year.”
you’ll know by June 22 if that view has real substance, but early signs are good.
Ta’avao effectively replaces Nepo Laulala, now taking his scrummaging powers to the exacting French Top 14 battleground. Marcel renata, who now qualifies as a veteran, is still at the Blues, while the promising wellingtonian PJ Sheck, who briefly wore the Highlanders jersey in 2023, has come north. Ofa Tuungafasi, who once wanted to be a tighthead, is now cast as a loosehead, though he can do the job on either side. so Ta’avao gets to help the development of sheck and the young loosehead Josh Fusitu’a, especially with the latter in live scrummaging sessions. ben Ake is the young comer, still outside the 38 but inside the inner sanctum for his scrum tuition.
“I would never want to hold someone back because I think it would benefit myself. I have to do my stuff well but, even in our live scrum sessions, you can feel something that one of the younger boys has done, like if he has flipped his hips out which has given me a seam to go through the middle or if he hasn’t been as strong with his shoulders or his bind, then that’s a conversation we’re all having together,” says Ta’avao.
“It will only benefit the Blues. These young guys have massive futures to grow and become All blacks. How could I not help them in any way?”
“As long as I do everything I can to be the best tighthead I can for the Blues, then I’m happy.”
It was a bit different back in 2011 when he was in the blues’ wider training group. Charlie Faumuina was the main tighthead. Ta’avao took some beatings, rode the pine and learned on the hoof. support systems were not as well entrenched. In his first start against the Crusaders in 2012, he was hooked after half an hour. That reputation for being an inconsistent, sometimes soft, scrummager stayed with Ta’avao for several years, even when he was at the nsw waratahs in 2016-17 and when he joined the Chiefs in 2018.
while Ta’avao and Tuungafasi happily join the teaching ranks, they still bow to the blues’ scrum doctor greg Feek, who knows his onions.
“He played for the blues as well, so he’s passionate in his delivery. Feeky’s been around a while. He’s played for the All blacks, coached with the All blacks and Ireland, and been pretty successful. He works so hard and is very detailed in what he does. He’ll try and make you think about something that might not have even been going through your head, like on what foot you are on, how you are bracing when the weight comes through,” he says.
Propping is about breaking down angles and controlling your body. There’s quite a science to it. Ta’avao’s knowledge is light years away from when he first emerged in what seems like another time.
“In 2012, I was 22 and probably thought I was better that I was. I had some tough lessons. but if you don’t take those lessons and try to apply them, you’ll never get better. My strength as a prop has always been my mobility but back then I wasn’t as convincing as a scrummager. I feel a lot more confident now in my scrummaging. At the Chiefs, we used the scrum as a real weapon.”
The blues have, since about 2020-21, used the scrum as a weapon. Cotter, aka known as ‘stern Vern’ by some of the blues, in jocular fashion, of course, knows all about the value of the scrum and tightheads, in particular.
when Rugby News reminded him that Ta’avao was 33 (now 34), he quipped that he was just coming into his prime as a no 3. In France, of course, tightheads are highly valued. The mantra is ‘no scrum, no win’.
It’s not quite as black and white in Super Rugby Pacific, where there may be less than 10 scrums in a game, but any team hoping to win without a solid setpiece foundation is barking at the moon.
Many would think that Ta’avao’s All blacks days are behind him as men like Tyrel Lomax, Tamaiti williams and Fletcher newell hog the tighthead propping limelight. while Ta’avao feels like this period of his career – he has signed with the blues and Auckland until the end of 2025 – is a bonus, he’s still a competitive guy.
“If I said I wasn’t trying to be an All Black again, then I’d be lying. It’s definitely something I want to do, but it’s not my sole focus. If you get too caught up in wanting to play for that team, you lose when you are in the present and performing now. As long as I do everything I can to be the best tighthead I can for the blues, then I’m happy.”
A first bonafide Super Rugby title in 21 years would make him even happier.