Alama's Auckland rebuild is underway
After Auckland finished with just three wins in 2017’s Mitre 10 Cup, it was clear that something had to change.
During the off-season few sides had more roster turnover, as the province underwent a near-complete overhaul both on and off the field, evidenced by a brand new coaching staff and the 10 debutantes in their first side of the year.
With the 2018 season underway, a new era of Auckland rugby beckons.
Former All Blacks midfielder Alama Ieremia is now the man in charge, tasked with a challenge just as tough as any he met on the field during his playing days.
The 47-year-old is aiming to turn the fortunes of a union with a vast and rich history, one that helped build the foundation of rugby in New Zealand. Ieremia will have hopes of adding to the storied lineage of the country’s most successful province, and echoed this sentiment when his hiring was announced late last year.
“Auckland rugby is steeped in history. The size of the union, the challenges of getting the best out of our players – these are some of the things that attracted me to the job. I’m really excited about the challenge,” Ieremia said in December, when his three-year deal with the team was announced.
The new coach witnessed Auckland at the peak of their powers when he represented Wellington from 1992 to 2000. The men in blue and white hoops claimed five provincial titles during that span, carried by All Black legends like Michael Jones, Grant Fox and Zinzan Brooke.
Now it’s Ieremia’s turn to usher in the next era of great Auckland talent as the side chase an honour that has eluded them for the last 11 years – a record 17th provincial title.
The previously mentioned coaching staff consisting of Ieremia, his former Wellington teammate Filo Tiatia, schoolboy rugby mastermind Tai Lavea and legendary All Blacks coach Sir Graham Henry suggests the creation of an environment designed to nurture and develop the young and unproven squad.
Unfortunately, just minutes after the 2018 season kicked off it looked as if the needle hadn’t budged despite wholesale changes at both the back and front ends of the team. Auckland conceded a penalty shortly after the ball was live and before two minutes had passed, the opposing Counties Manukau side crossed for a try after a costly defensive lapse close to the line.
Early jitters were to be expected from such a young side as the defence was tested early and often. Counties Manukau spent 10% of the first half inside Auckland’s 22, forcing Ieremia’s side to be accurate in defence and staunch on their goal line for prolonged periods of play.
After a shaky start the early slip-ups eventually began to subside as possession evened out. Once Auckland managed some front-foot ball their talented backline was able to capitalise, with midfielder Tumua Manu breaking the line and putting in a chip for wing Salesi Rayasi to pounce on and score a debut try.
Former New Zealand Under 20 representative Harry Plummer directed traffic from first five-eighth, picking his moments when taking on the line or shifting the ball wide. Off the tee, the promising youngster missed a handful of early kick attempts but remained composed and was able to convert when it mattered.
He showed no nerves before nailing an angled 42 metre penalty at a crucial time to extend the Auckland lead to four with 15 minutes remaining. The kick eventually proved enough to seal a tight but crucial 23-19 victory, though the young pivot will rue missing a gimme in front of the sticks in the later stages.
When asked post-match about the decision to start 20-year-old Plummer – the second start of his young but promising career – Ieremia simply quipped “Why not?”.
“The best way to learn is to actually get amongst the fire, and I’m sure he’ll learn heaps from this. That’s the whole point,” he continued. “This competition is a sprint. You just can’t try and build people into it, you’ve got to try and hit the ground running.”
While the competition itself may be a sprint, there’s no doubt restoring this Auckland side to its former glory may be closer to a marathon.
Both Ieremia and first-time captain Blake Gibson made it clear that while it’s nice to have a win on the board, the side have plenty to work on, with discipline and set piece a key focus as the season progresses.
“This group, a very young group. We’ve got a lot of work to do, make no mistake, there’s a lot of work to do but just very proud of the effort, and my captain as well,” Ieremia said.
“First-time captain, it’s great that he [Gibson] stood up and also had some support out there. Very difficult when you have 10 new players but I think they held it together.”
23-year-old Gibson – a regular with the Blues in Super Rugby when healthy – has taken the role of captain in stride, and gives Ieremia an invaluable presence and experienced head in the forward pack to build around.
“I’ve been around a little bit now. I’m still young but I’ve been with Super [Rugby] for a while and also this Mitre 10 team,” Gibson said. “I can back on a bit of resilience and try lead from the front.”
In his first match as captain Gibson did just that, as he tallied eight tackles and picked up a try to boot.
Ieremia and Gibson will no doubt be pleased with the collective defensive effort of the side, as they made 101 tackles with just seven misses. The backline met every challenge that confronted them, with just two missed tackles between all ten backs in the 23 and no line breaks surrendered in the first forty minutes of action.
As both coach and captain alluded to, set piece and discipline was Auckland’s Achilles heel and could be what decides how far the team can go this year. A lack of discipline afforded Counties Manukau the early upper-hand in the contest, and the inexperienced front row – the starters sharing a single cap between them – were responsible for five of the side’s 10 conceded penalties.
It may still be some time before we see Auckland provide a genuine challenge for the competition’s top prize, but the side are definitely prepared to claw their way back to the top and showed flashes of brilliance once things started to click – even if they didn’t exactly explode out of the blocks.
With his first win in the books, rookie coach Ieremia’s next order of business is to iron out the kinks and continue to build on each performance. With the return of All Blacks lock Patrick Tuipulotu looming and marquee players like Akira Ioane coming off a strong individual Super Rugby performance, this group will only improve as they gain experience and key players like Plummer and Rayasi earn more time in the saddle.
While the competition itself may be a sprint, the marathon continues for Alama Ieremia and his talented young group as they chase down the rest of the pack.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
It couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
25 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
13 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
25 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
13 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
80 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
13 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
13 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
13 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
13 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
13 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
44 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to comments