Jerome Kaino and Liam Messam are going to scrap it out for the All Black No 6 jersey during the Rugby Championship.
Jerome Kaino and Liam Messam are great friends. But for the next 18 months they are destined to be great rivals as these two warriors try to take possession of the All Black No 6 jersey.
Liam Messam is typical of New Zealand’s hard men. Proper hard men that is. He has a soft, welcoming outer and a titanium inner. Lovely guy away from the field – relaxed, friendly and always accommodating. But on it, he’s a different beast: driven, focused, tough and relentless.
Messam has become a good All Black. He’s become a good, to very good blindside flanker and his journey to this point has been inspiring. Drill deep into Messam and his character is fixed to his core. It doesn’t suddenly run out.
He’s had to dig that far into himself over the last five years. He’s had to ask searching questions of his desire, of his resilience and his passion. Each time he’s asked, he’s come back with the same answer: he wants to be an All Black and he wants to fight for that jersey.
It’s been this way for Messam since as far back as anyone can remember. He initially came to national prominence through New Zealand
Sevens. Not only was he quick, he was gifted: in possession of skills few loose forwards have. But as much as that excited some, it left more obsevers questioning whether he was the right sort of player to make it in the XV- man game. Not big enough, not heavy enough and not attracted to the grunt and the grind.
That debate extended to the top echelons. In 2007, Messam was the rising force of the national game. His performances for Waikato that year were exceptional. After one supremely good effort that enabled Waikato to win the Ranfurly Shield at North Harbour, coach Warren Gatland said of Messam. “He’s a fantastic professional the way he prepares himself. On and off the field he really takes care of himself. He doesn’t put any crap into his body, he doesn’t drink any alcohol.
“It’s part of history that we always stop at Pokeno [ for games in Auckland] and get an ice cream. Liam was the only guy on the bus that didn’t eat one. He did not want to put any crap into his body - you just have to admire that.
“Liam was out of this world. I haven’t seen a performance like that for some time and I would be surprised if he doesn’t make the All Blacks next year.”
Gatland was too diplomatic to say he was surprised that Messam hadn’t already made the squad. The All Blacks went to France that year with the veteran Reuben Thorne as their back- up to Jerry Collins and no one really knew why. Messam was the more dynamic, higher impact and generated more excitement – yet it was the older man who was taken to the World Cup.
What became clear over the next four years was that the All Black selectors could never quite convince themselves that Messam was a test footballer. He was capped on the Grand Slam tour of 2008 and started the first test of 2009 at No 8 when there was an injury crises. But after the All Blacks lost unexpectedly to France, Messam copped unprecedented public critiscism from coach Graham Henry.
“He missed crucial tackles and turned the ball over, which cost us points,” Henry said in explaining why Messam had been dropped for the next game. “At test match level you just can’t afford to do that. He’s got some things that win games, but he’s got some things that lose games and that’s the disappointment for us, and I’m sure the disappointment for him.
“It might be great to watch but All Blacks can’t afford to lose too often. You noticed the reaction when we lost to France.”
There may have been truth to Henry’s comments, but still, it was unduly harsh that Messam was singled out in what was a poor team performance and secondly that the world got to hear about it.
Unfortunately Messam would get used to this. He was dropped outright for the Tri Nations that year, recalled for the tour to Europe and then was on the edge of the squad throughout 2010 winning two caps off the bench and a start against Scotland.
He couldn’t ever do enough to win over the selection panel. The All Blacks had the vaunted loose trio of Jerome Kaino, Richie McCaw and Kieran Read and Victor Vito was the young buck who seemingly had the next shout as his athleticism and size were too hard to resist. Messam, though, was that bit harder to be sure about.
He didn’t have quite enough ball carrying crunch. He didn’t cleanout with quite the required ferocity and his lineout work wasn’t as good as the others’. Messam’s key offering of superb use of the ball in space wasn’t deemed high priority or high value and having been in the squad throughout 2011, the selectors suddenly had second thoughts on the eve of the tournament and dumped him.
That was surely one blow too many? How much pride could one man swallow? How much should he even have to swallow? If Messam had packed up and headed offshore for a life of big bucks and low stress, no one would have blamed him.
He dug deep and stayed. And he did what he always did which was to work harder again at proving everyone wrong and between February and May 2012, he was superb for the Chiefs.
But even though the All Black selectors changed, their view on Messam didn’t and once again – he was the unlucky man. He wasn’t originally selected for the June series... the last straw? It possibly would have been had injury not struck and for the final game of the series, Messam was called in to wear No 6 on his home ground.
It was, without question, a last chance for him. He had 80 minutes to shape his destiny. And as he says: “I got the opportunity in Hamilton and I had that ‘ stuff it’ attitude ... and got ripped into things and from there ... I probably thought that was it - having missed out on the World Cup team and then initial selection that year. I thought that was my All Black thing over.”
It was, as it turned out, his All Black thing just beginning. Messam was superb that night and superb when he returned to the title- winning Chiefs.
The All Blacks reached the Rugby Championship in August with little doubt that Messam was the right man to start at No 6. And that’s how things stayed throughout the year and for all of 2013.
Messam wasn’t left chasing the game anymore. He was one step in front not one step behind and he went cold turkey on that risk- taking thing of his. He didn’t clam up to the point of not contributing, he just made better decisions about when to pass and when to run. He was that bit tighter, closer to the traffic and all the grunt and grind work that many had said he couldn’t really do – well, he did. He really did and the All Blacks had a proper, bruising blindside.
When they went to Ellis Park in October last year they needed a huge effort from everyone – but especially their loose trio.
It’s part of history that we always stop at Pokeno [ for games in Auckland] and get an ice cream. Liam was the only guy on the bus that didn’t eat one. He did not want to put any crap into his body - you just have to admire that.’ Warren Gatland
It was one of those games where the contest was brutal and fast: there was a huge battle up the guts and another at the wider reaches. It was aerobic and anearobic. It was the ultimate test and Messam did everything and more.
Messam was voted by his peers as their player of the Rugby Championship and he delivered again a month later at Twickenham when the All Blacks were again under heavy fire from a big pack.
Messam tackled and tackled. He hit the ball up hard, won his share of lineout ball and came back for more. Those who had said he was too small or didn’t have the right game or head for big- boy rugby, would have wondered how they had ever thought that.
By December 2013, Messam had won everyone over. There were no doubters and it was illustrative of his mind- set that insead of heading to the beach once he had signed off for the season, that he instead opted to take part in the Fight for Life.
He put himself through a few more weeks of gruelling training so he could fight NRL hard man Paul Gallen. As he prepared for that, he sat back and reflected on what was a coming of age season.
“I believe my game grew,” he said. “I put that down to the way the Chiefs wanted me to play and that folded into the All Blacks. What drives me to keep performing for the All Blacks is the disappointments I have suffered: missing out on teams and that sort of stuff. That
pain motivates me and drives me to keep grinding and stay there. At the start of last year, I wasn’t even in the frame to be in the All Blacks.
“I want to earn respect by the way I play, week in, week out. Each week, I am not trying to prove anything but I am trying to gain the respect of all my teammates.”
It took Jerome Kaino time to come to grips with test football. His natural athleticism was obvious from his late teens, which is why the All Blacks took him to Europe in an apprenticeship capacity in 2004 before he’d been picked to play Super Rugby.
He’d come good they reckoned. Had to – he was 1.96m, 104kg and only a few years previously had been playing fullback at First XV level. He was tough, too. Could hit hard and had this hunger to be on the ball and make his presence felt.
But in his early years, that hunger was sporadic. Kaino could drift in and out of Super Rugby games and when he made his test debut in 2006, he did the same thing. After two caps against Ireland, he wasn’t seen again until 2008.
He had been told to get fitter, to work harder, to apply himself without reservation. When Jerry Collins suddenly quit New Zealand in 2008, Kaino was recalled. But while he was improved, the pattern was much the same: he was still inconsistent with his intensity and accuracy.
The selectors couldn’t commit to him wholeheartedly until the performance curve smoothed: until they were convinced he was as fit as he could be, as engaged as he neded to be. It took until the end of 2009 for them to find any comfort on that front.
By the end of that year Kaino was more on than he was off and by the end of 2010, he finally became the player the All Blacks had thought he would become six years earlier. In the final test of that year in Cardiff, Kaino was at his devastating best – making one sensational hit on Welsh lock Bradley Davies that was felt in the Valleys.
“He showed he is world class,” beamed a proud Graham Henry after Kaino’s performance. He’d always hoped but had never been certain that he’d be able to say that of Kaino.
The following year Kaino was brilliant – deservedly shortlisted for the IRB World Player of the Year award. He was physical, intimidating, buckled a few people in the tackle, carried well, won lineout ball and snarled and snapped like a good No 6 should.
He was the world’s best blindside and at 28, he was just coming into his prime when he surprised everyone by signing a two- year deal to play in Japan. What should have been the beginning for Kaino – a period when he built a legacy as one of the greats - looked decidedly like the end.
He damaged his shoulder in early 2012 and with an estimated salary of $ 1m a
year awaiting him in Japan, no one believed him when he said he’d be back.
Most players who leave in their prime say they’ll be back, but they rarely return. There’s the money for a start. There is also the problem that the game in New Zealand doesn’t stand still. Kaino left and Messam took his chance. When Messam was injured for a few games last year, Steven Luatua appeared from nowhere.
“When I was in Japan the level the All Blacks played went up and the depth of new names kept popping up in the loose forwards and it did cross my mind that I probably won’t be the same player if I came back and that I probably wouldn’t get ahead of those young guys,” he said.
But the important thing was he liked the idea of trying to get ahead of the younger guys. He’s never been explicit, but Japan obviously wasn’t for him. His family enjoyed it and his bank manager probably loved it, but the warrior in Kaino wasn’t so keen.
I had spoken to Steve Hansen and John Kirwan and they said if you come back and play well, we will play you. I backed my ability to come back and play well and that was all the motivation I needed to come home. I didn’t want to retire thinking what if..?’ Jerome Kaino
He needed more and as the months rolled by last year, he just couldn’t stand it any more – he was watching a superb All Black team from afar and he knew, because every fibre in his body told him, that he wanted to be part of it.
“I missed it a lot,” he says. “It was awesome watching them go undefeated but deep down inside I really wanted to be a part of this group and come home and play again. I wanted to prove myself. Not only to the guys in this room [ All Black teammates] but people across New Zealand who still compare me to my performances in 2011 and that was a goal of mine, to come back and not just be judged on what I did then. I want to be judged on my actions now and I wanted to earn my place in the Blues and the All Blacks and not just off my reputation.
“It was late July last year around the Rugby Championship [ that I really felt I wanted to come back]. I had spoken to Steve Hansen and John Kirwan and they said if you come back and play well, we will play you. I backed my ability to come back and play well and that was all the motivation I needed to come home. I didn’t want to retire thinking what if..?”
Kaino being Kaino, did what no one else has done and returned to New Zealand a better player than when he left. He’s more powerful, more explosive and more accurate. In just three games for the Blues he proved himself world class and his All Black recall was inevitable.
Back in black, he was just as impressive. He tore into England in the first test when he wore No 8 covering for the injured Read – knocked them about. Did the same in the second and when he strode off the field in Dunedin, the All Black selectors had a big decision to make.
In the days leading up to the third test against England, there was only, really, one live selection debate. The selectors had to determine whether to pick Kaino or Messam at blindside.
Kaino made no bones about that. “I think me and my old mate Liam Messam are going to have butt heads sooner or later,” he said. “I think that’s the go once Kieran comes back in. We always talk about how we can improve each other’s game. It just comes down to the coach’s preference. We play a similar style. He’s a little bit quicker and more agile but it comes down to the opportunities that we get and how we take them.”
It was Kaino who won the nod – the decision coming down to form. “It was tough but you have to make decisions,” said Hansen. “Kaino was playing well so he got the shot.”
For 40 minutes in Hamilton that decision reunited the old guard of Kaino, McCaw and Read. It was their 20th test as a combination and as tough as it was on Messam, most New Zealanders would have agreed it felt right to have the World Cup trio back together.
There’s something about that unit which feels instinctively right – even now that Kaino is 31, McCaw 33 and Read 28. It feels like they have at least 18 months more left in them: 18 months in which they can establish themselves as one of the great back rows of the modern age.
Except of course Messam may have something to say about that. It’s not like he hasn’t been here before – the unlucky man left on the edge. The difference this time is he has 32 test caps behind him and the knowledge that he can play at this level. He is in his prime. Kaino is in his prime and this battle of theirs is going to be fascinating during the Rugby Championship and beyond.
There’s not much between them but there’s something about Kaino that’s hard to resist. Even Messam after the first test against England wanted to get his admiration for Kaino on the record: “I thought Jerome’s first game back in the All Black jumper... he was sensational. He was physical.”
Kaino’s that bit heavier, taller and more powerful. He jokes that Messam, a handy enough boxer, is not someome he’d mess with but Kaino is higher impact.
The English were troubled by his leg drive and that ability of his to stay on his feet after riding the initial collision. They, like most teams, would spend more time fretting about the damage Kaino can cause than they would about the potential impact of Messam.
And yet that may be the latter’s greatest advantage. In the close exchanges, Kaino can dominate in a way Messam can’t. How many times, though, last year did Messam run superb angles close to the touchlines? How often did he bide his time out there, hit the line perfectly, beat players and give the pass?
Rugby is not always up the guts and carnage. Messam has a skill- set that the All Blacks can make use of and the decision on who to pick each test won’t be straightforward.
And a huge part of why it won’t be straightforward is that the desire and depth of character of both men could see them respectively take their performance to unprecedented levels.
They have both made huge sacrifices to make it this far. They have both poured their soul into their career. They have both literally bled for the cause. Every All Black is committed, maybe not like these two though and Kaino knows his old pal will give everything he has every time he gets on the field.
Likewise Messam knows that’s his only option because Kaino will be doing the same. Let the battle commence.