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'I'm not going to say I sulked': Whitelock's frustrations with false start
Sam Whitelock has admitted to harbouring some frustrations at missing out on facing off with the Springboks earlier this month.
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Whitelock was originally poised to join the All Blacks in Queensland ahead of their final game of the Rugby Championship after remaining in New Zealand for the formative stages of the competition to await the birth of his third child.
The 33-year-old was due to fly out in the third week of September to spend two weeks in isolation in Australia before linking up with the squad for the second clash with the Springboks.
It was decided at the last minute, however, that because the senior lock hadn’t clocked up any significant game time in the weeks leading up to his departure date, it would be too big a risk to send him over for what promised to be a bruising encounter with the world champions.
Whitelock’s Crusaders teammate Richie Mo’unga travelled to Queensland in his place, with Whitelock instead remaining in NZ until last week, before boarding a flight to America.
The second-rower is now champing at the bit ahead of the All Blacks’ upcoming clash with the USA Eagles, but admitted that he was left somewhat frustrated at the late change of plans – but that there were also some positives to remaining at home with his family.
“It was a little bit frustrating but at the same time, it was actually nice to have a little bit more time at home and do a little bit more training so hopefully that’s going to set me up going through,” he said on Tuesday.
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“I’m not going to say I sulked but I had all my bags in the car and I must say, I didn’t take them out for a couple of days. I probably should have but I was just kind of living out of a car when I needed some rugby stuff. It kind of took me about six or seven days to accept I wasn’t going and then move them all back into the house and then unpack and then when I had to repack again a couple of days ago it was kind of opening up a bag and going ‘I’ve got it all sorted’ so instead of it taking an hour to pack it was kind of a ten-minute thing to get done.”
While the All Blacks were always going to leave a handful of players in New Zealand for the initial stages of their epic international tour, they had hoped that those players might be able to clock up some respectable minutes for their provincial sides.
The re-emergence of Covid scuppered those plans, however, which meant Whitelock was only able to notch up one appearance for Canterbury. He was, however, keeping in regular contact with All Blacks trainer Nic Gill to ensure he’d be able to hit the ground running when he did finally link up with the national side.
An emotional Codie Taylor broke down in tears while paying tribute to Sean Wainui following the former's death on Tuesday. #AllBlacks https://t.co/gPLnpWao8u
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 19, 2021
“I’m always up for it, can’t wait to get out there,” said Whitelock. “[It was a] little different for me, being at home watching, but Gilly, the trainer, wasn’t slow on sending through ideas and different things he wanted me to do so I feel like I’m in pretty good shape at the moment. Played a game for Canterbury a couple of weeks ago.
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“I’m the same as everyone else, I just want to get out there and get into it. It’s been a long time with a couple of false starts, ready to get back with the team but I suppose that’s the cool thing, it just makes it so much more special when you do get here. It was cool seeing the boys walk into the hotel, haven’t seen them for a few weeks and got to connect with a few different stories of what they’ve been up to and the different challenges they’ve had, and looking forward to accepting a few of those challenges going forward.”
Whitelock, alongside the likes of Sam Cane and new lock Josh Lord, arrived in Washington ahead of the main squad and will remain with the team for their final five tests of the year before returning to New Zealand in late November.
Thankfully, the ever-quickening advancement of technology means that long stints overseas aren’t quite as harrowing for players as they were in the past.
“It’s never nice leaving home but they understand what I’m trying to do here with the rugby and they’re really supportive,” Whitelock said.
“It’s great, the day and age at the moment, with Facetime, with cellphones and that. It’s a little bit different to what the team faced a few years ago when it was one letter or one phone call so technology definitely helps.”
The All Blacks will face off with the USA this weekend before heading on to Europe to take on Wales, Italy, Ireland and France.
Comments on RugbyPass
It’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
24 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
24 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
24 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
24 Go to comments