'Disrespecting my name': Hurricanes assistant coach Cory Jane explains Ngani Laumape's post-match barb
Hurricanes assistant coach Cory Jane has endorsed midfielder Ngani Laumape as the form second five-eighth in Super Rugby Aotearoa and believes he can emulate one of New Zealand’s best ever in the number 12 jersey.
The 13-test All Black was at his destructive best against the Blues on Saturday night with fullback Beauden Barrett often the unfortunate recipient.
Early in the game Laumape stood his former teammate up and beat him for pace down the left-wing side before barging over the top of Otere Black for the game’s opening try.
Later in the half he steamrolled Barrett as he attempted a front-on tackle, conjuring images of Jonah Lomu flattening Mike Catt in 1995.
“He just showed how devastating he is,” Jane said.
“You look at all the other twelves in New Zealand and I’m unsure any of them does what he does when he puts his hand up like that.
“When he’s in that sort of form it’s exciting to see. You see the confidence Narns comes out with when he has a good carry or gets involved in a good chase down the sideline or makes a tackle. It’s stuff like that he prides himself on and gets him excited. We’ve just got to keep him going this week.”
Laumape made some pointed post-match comments, telling Sky Sport that some people were “disrespecting my name”.
“I just wanted to come out and show everyone the way that I play. Let those people keep disrespecting my name, because I’m going to turn up every week. Too many people talking; I’m just going to be me,” Laumape said.
Jane wasn’t sure who Laumape was referring too, but guessed it stemmed from critics who cast the midfielder as a wrecking ball without a whole lot of finesse.
“He’s the type of player who people think is one-dimensional,” said Jane.
“He can pass and kick but when you’re so dominant at one facet of the game – and he is, out of everyone, the most dominant – people still have to stop you. There’s no point just for the sake of it thinking, “I’ve got to make this pass or I have to kick.
“There are other areas he’s not bad at and can still get better at but he’s pretty bloody good at running the ball. If you want someone to run hard and commit to everything, he’s your guy.
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“He seems to be missing out on the All Blacks in the last few years. He gets a shot but then misses out the next time. It will be interesting to see what (happens) if he continues to do what he did in the weekend and then going forward to when the All Blacks play,” Jane said.
Jane also sees similarities between Laumape and his former Hurricanes and All Blacks teammate Ma’a Nonu.
“When you’re a big player like that – and Ma’a was the same – he was a big runner, which is a big strength of Narns as well – you’ve got to keep working at passing and the kicking.
“Ma’a became one of the best passing twelves in world rugby, but he also took a little bit of time to understand his game. Narns is sometimes (caught) between trying to pass or kick too much and he’s trying to figure out his game but when you have a big foundation and can run the ball hard and put teams under pressure, it’s a good spot to be in.”
As for how he might have dealt with the rampaging Laumape that Barrett faced on Saturday night, Jane’s trademark humour was quickly to the fore.
“I’d probably do what Beaudy did,” grinned Jane.
“That was a good business decision. He probably thought, ‘I’m not dealing with this today. I’ve got more games I want to play in my career!'”
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
26 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments