AB’s journey to heavyweight lock
The day he struggled to do a single chin-up at the Canterbury Rugby Union’s gymnasium remains a vivid memory for All Blacks lock Luke Romano.
Then in his early 20s, Romano badly wanted to be a professional rugby player but at the time was paying the bills by strapping on a tool belt on building sites in Christchurch.
While lifting bags of nails and timber might have been a decent way to keep the motor ticking over ahead of games for the HSOB club side in Christchurch, he discovered it counted for little when it came to pushing tin in a gym fitted-out for hardened athletes.
The late Luke Thornley was the Canterbury trainer, and he invited Romano, now 32, to do some strength tests at the Rugby Park facility.
‘‘I managed to bench press 40kg, six times. That was my max,’’ Romano said.
‘‘And then he wanted me to do some chin-ups, and I was sort of hanging off the bar. He was like ‘righto, you can start doing a chinup’ and I was like ‘I have been trying for the last 10 seconds’. I couldn’t even pull myself up.’’
Now he weighs 117 kg, the perfect weight, he says, to compete at the top level. Any bigger and he would start losing speed. Any lighter and the lack of body armour would count against him when colliding with other huge men.
‘‘You only have to look at the photos when I was that weight
(98kg) and I was just skin and bone really. A little bean pole.’’
There is something unique about the path taken by Romano towards rugby stardom. The lock might have played 31 tests since his debut for the All Blacks in the
60-0 win over Ireland in Hamilton in 2012, but nothing has been presented to him on a platter.
Until former Canterbury coach Rob Penney invited Romano to join the provincial squad – he was to make his first-class debut when he was 23 – he hadn’t bothered with lifting weights.
Given he had never progressed further than the 3rd XV at Christchurch Boys’ High School, and unlike many promising players who are tagged and signed by provincial unions or Super Rugby clubs at a young age, he never received a contract to join an academy.
‘‘I think I played four seasons of senior footy here in Christchurch. I was 23-24 years old – you sort of think that the dream is over. Because you are at that age, and think if you are going to make it you will have been picked up before then.
‘‘I just had that belief that I could get there. It didn’t matter, my age. I kept banging on the door, so to speak. The door got opened a little bit, I stuck my foot in, held it open. And with hard work and determination I managed to kick the thing down.’’
Scott Robertson, now the Crusaders coach, was in charge of the Sumner club when they encountered HSOB in a playoff game. Romano unpicked Sumner’s lineout that day, giving Robertson – and probably Penney – something to think about. Encouraged by HSOB coach Duncan Doig, Romano kept battling, and when Penney contacted him he was unaware he was about to take the first tentative steps to eventually earn a big wage as an All Black.
At the time he was just enjoying playing some code with his mates. ‘‘That sort of attitude allows you to play your best footy; when you are having fun, it’s a pleasure to do,’’ Romano says.
‘‘I was a skinny little white boy that was on the building site and had never seen a gym when I was 23. He (Rob Penney) took a gamble with me and called me into the squad. From there everything sort of blossomed.’’
Robertson says Romano isn’t afraid to offer innovative ideas on the training pitch. He listens, rejects some of the propositions and considers others.
‘‘The Purple Bear we call him,’’ Robertson says. ‘‘He has got some random ideas, he is a good man.
‘‘I won’t go far too into depth, but he is a purple dot which means he is really creative in mindset and is a big bear. He loves a cuddle after a couple (of beers). It’s a bit of an affectionate name for him.’’