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'He looked so uncomfortable': Joe Rokocoko's take on Dan Carter's 'no-no' move to the Blues
Former All Blacks speedster Joe Rokocoko has described it as bizarre seeing his ex-international teammate Dan Carter in Blues colours.
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The Auckland franchise captured the signature of the 38-year-old playmaker earlier this month as injury over for Stephen Perofeta, drawing worldwide attention given his history and strong affiliation with the Crusaders.
During his time in Christchurch, Carter made 141 appearances for the Crusaders between 2003 and 2015, winning three titles during that span.
A born and bred Cantabrian, the three-time World Rugby Player of the Year’s services were sought by Blues head coach – and former Crusaders star – Leon MacDonald after Carter’s tenure at the Kobelco Steelers in Japan came to an abrupt halt due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Speaking to Sport24, Rokocoko said it was strange watching his former All Blacks teammate pull on a Blues jersey for the first time considering the historic rivalry between the Auckland and Canterbury regions, which extends to Super Rugby level.
“When the news was confirmed, I felt happy and weird at the same time. If you are a real die-hard Blues or Crusaders fan or former player, his move to Auckland was just a no-no,” the 68-test wing said.
“I saw him putting on his Blues training kit for the first time, and I was laughing to myself because he looked so uncomfortable.
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“He used to dominate in that red jumper so it looked wrong for him to be in blue.
“But it just shows the person that he is. He has put all that aside and sees the bigger picture at the Blues by developing and mentoring the younger players.”
“I was lucky enough to have played alongside and against him. There is no doubt he is world-class and will go down as one of our greats.”
Prized Western Force recruit Kyle Godwin hopes his early move back to Australia can help reignite his Wallabies career.https://t.co/h4W3GHdfQu
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 19, 2020
After having played 96 times for the Blues himself and winning a Super 12 championship with the club in 2003, Rokocoko left New Zealand to move to France in 2011, where he resumed his playing career with Bayonne and Racing 92, where he again played alongside Carter.
It’s in Paris where he remains after retiring from professional rugby last year, although he has been watching the opening matches of Super Rugby Aotearoa from the French capital.
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“It’s been a while since I have been so excited to watch live games,” Rokocoko told Sport24.
“Pre-lockdown, I used to hold off and wait for the highlights because there was too much rugby but now Aotearoa is exciting.
“It’s a short window with local derbies because of COVID-19. It doesn’t get more intense than 10 weeks of New Zealand derbies.
“In terms of who I will support in the competition, it will always be the Blues but it’s so hard to put a finger on who is going to win the domestic tournament because all five franchises are good teams.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Who's Jarrad Hohepa?
1 Go to commentsSo let me get this straight. Say you have the dominant scrum. You are 99% sure you can go for a scrum pushover try on the line to win the game. The opposition knows it too. They give away a silly tap kick instead. You are now not allowed to scrum. This is ridiculous! *%@ing the game up as usual! The fact that the attacking teams are not allowed to scrum from a held up over the line is just as ridiculous. Really world rugby? Careful people might start a rebel league called True Rugby or Real Rugby.
72 Go to comments12 subs during a game? How has that been allowed to happen NB? I hate when the game goes in this monopolistic direction closing up shop, it just becomes non sport. Btw have you seen anything of how Liam Coltman was tracking for Lyon? He has just signed to return to Otago though we have a couple of young hookers developing here. He was a popular gentle natured character down here and I’m glad to see him back but maybe he will be a mentor primarily?
4 Go to commentsGreat breakdown and the global politics always confuses me a little. The southern hemisphere seems to be left out a bit but I wouldn’t even know where to start with fixing it. Club challenge could be a step in the right direction
4 Go to commentsSince he coached Free state, from that time onwards, I maintained he was the coach for the Boks. A nice, no nonsense guy with an excellent brain, who gets results.
11 Go to commentswell - they only played against 14 men and had the TMO team on their side - and still should have lost… so actually that makes sense.
32 Go to commentsSouthern hemisphere Rugby is exactly that, boring. Northern Hemisphere Rugby is soooo much more entertaining and better with better players.
2 Go to commentsIf he was to be cited for a dangerous behavior, then it’s natural that he should be. Then NTamack too, yes? And I’ll add a good whataboutism - Yeandle eye-gouging on Richie Arnold: not cited. Eye-gouging. Not high tackle. Eye-gouging. It was on French TV, with French TV directors.
5 Go to commentsReally poorly written rambling piece ..
4 Go to commentsIt was so boring
2 Go to commentspersonally I’d go with : 1. France 2. NZ 3. England 4. Ireland 5. Scotland
32 Go to commentsAndy everything becomes easier with experience therefor counting etc straight after a match becomes easier when you have 100+ caps vs 17 which is the experience you speak from.
160 Go to commentsGetting rid of the Dupont Law is a good thing and ought to have been done months ago! Officially getting rid of the croc roll is a good thing. The law about no scrums from a short arm is well intended in terms of speeding the game up but it’s an overreaction to a clever yet calculated gamble that could have blow up in South Africa’s face if they conceded a penalty from the scrum that was set after Willemse took claimed the mark in the World Cup QF.
72 Go to commentsRassie The GOAT
11 Go to commentsOf their 5 big matches in RWC Scotland and NZ were the easiest. They took a 12-3 lead against NZ and after the red decided it was best to hold the lead and take chances that came. None came and it was tight but they dug a lot deeper in the other two knock out matches. They had trounced NZ in Twickenham in a fixture that NZ must now regret. Psychology was clearly with SA in the final as a result.
32 Go to commentsMy favourite line/exchanges from Chasing the Sun 2. News headline: “SA. The last hurdle in ABs World Cup glory”. Something like that. “You’re all just a hurdle. A hop, skip and a jump”. Coming from Rassie and Jacque. Basically - nobody thinks you’re going to win. You’re just a pushover team. Nobody respects you. When the camera shows the players faces, you can see the effect. You can see the rev meters (die moer metertjies) firing up. Mitchell said he felt it prior to the 19 final. He said to Eddie watching the teams warming up that it was going to be a tough day at the office. Wave a red flag in front of South African, and you can expect a reaction. This is not unique - many teams rev themselves. And Bok teams in particular. With horrific consequences (discipline, poor thinking under pressure) because that’s the drawback to using emotion right? But what this Bok team does better than many since 2007 is channel the emotion and stay on task. Despite the emotion. Why, because while Rassie might play mind games - he talks about creating a safe environment. Listen to his recent honorary doctorate acceptance speech. While he uses psychology he creates psychological safety. He’s a damn fine coach. Can’t wait for Pretoria. It’s going to be a hummer.
11 Go to commentsWhat Rassie does for SA is big. It has helped people to unite and see we can win with the right people in place.
11 Go to commentsTerrible conditions for young players to express themselves just enjoy it guys. As a saffa great to see Ausie youth looking good. Wow SA have some great talent also.
2 Go to commentsYes, another example of French tv directors ensuring that incidents like this are swiftly glossed over for the benefit of their teams…
5 Go to commentsThe prospect of the club match ups across hemispheres is surely appetising for everyone. The reality however, may prove to be slightly different. There are currently two significant driving forces that have delivered to same teams consistently to the latter champions cup stages for years now. The first of those is the yawning gap in finances, albeit delivered by different routes. In France it’s wealthy private owners operating with a higher salary cap by some distance compared to England. In Ireland it’s led by a combination of state tax relief support, private Leinster academy funding and IRFU control - the provincial budgets are not equal! This picture is not going to change anytime soon. The second factor is the EPCR competition rules. You don’t need a PhD. in advanced statistical analysis from oxbridge to see the massive advantage bestowed upon the home team through every ko round of the tournament. The SA teams will gain the opportunity for home ko ties in due course but that could actually polarise the issue even further, just look at their difficulties playing these ties in Europe and then reverse them for the opposition travelling to SA. Other than that, the picture here is unlikely to change either, with heavyweight vested interests controlling the agenda. So what does all this point to for the club world championship? Well the financial differential between the nh and sh teams is pretty clear. And the travel issues and sporting challenge for away teams are significantly exacerbated beyond those already seen in the EPCR tournaments. So while the prospect of those match ups may whet our rugby appetites, I’m very much still to be convinced the reality will live up to expectations…
4 Go to comments