'It's been good for the soul and the heart': Why Liam Messam has returned to Waikato
Liam Messam, one of the most decorated Chiefs players in Super Rugby history, is back in Waikato country and getting ready to play in this year’s Mitre 10 Cup. Despite the unquestionable experience that comes with the 179 Super Rugby caps to his name, however, Messam is confident that he has as much to gain from joining up with his old province as the side has to gain from his presence.
Messam, who spent the last season with Toulon and previously represented Toshiba Brave Lupus in Japan, is returning to play for Waikato for the first time since 2015. The Super Rugby centurion departed New Zealand’s shores following the All Blacks’ success at the Rugby World Cup in England but still managed to play one and a half seasons with the Chiefs over the last four years.
While a Chiefs contract isn’t in the picture at this stage, Messam now has the opportunity to add to the 85 caps he earned representing Waikato over the first 13 years of his professional career.
That’s not the sole motivation why the former All Black is back in the country, however.
“The main reason why I came home was to be a fulltime daddy day-care,” Messam told RugbyPass. “I’ve been part-time off and on with them being back here in NZ and me being in France, so it’s been awesome.
“I struggled at the start, the first few weeks, to get back into the swing of New Zealand life, but it’s been good – it’s awesome to be home and it’s been good for the soul and the heart to be back.”
One of the things that Messam struggled with most in France was not being able to get along to events like cross-country days for his kids, but he’s working extra hard to make up for that now.
“All my Saturdays so far have been sports with my oldest with soccer. He surprised me, he’s bloody good. He absolutely loves football, can tell you everything, every player, what club they come from, what country, where they’re transferring to. He’s fully into it, he loves it, and I’ve enjoyed going down to watch. I’ve got no idea how to play football but I go out there and watch him. It’s been good for the soul.”
While Messam has been spending time with the children at home, he’s also been dealing with the young ones at work.
Mitre 10 Cup sides are now dominated by upcoming players – some straight out of school – and Messam’s been making the most of training with the likes of the Waikato Under 19 side.
“They’ve been good, they work really hard, they train really hard,” Messam said of his young training mates. “At the start of it, they were pretty shy, wouldn’t really talk to me or look me in the eye. They’d put their head down and say hello but now there’s a bit of banter coming through and they’re getting a bit more comfortable, which is good to see.”
Not many teenagers get the opportunity to play with seasoned professionals – let alone the most capped Super Rugby player in the region – but Messam is getting just as much out of the deal.
“They’ve been amazing, I’ve really enjoyed training with them,” the 36-year-old said.
“People say all the time that I’ll have a good influence on these young fellas, but these young fellas are having a good influence on me too. They keep me on my toes and are keeping me feeling young.
“The best thing is when you’re my age and you’re at the gym and you’re outworking them and you’re pushing more weights. It’s the same if I’m beating them in the fitness or whatever, I give them a bit of stick that an old man is beating them.”
The usual wind-up merchants have been quick to jump out of their holes to criticise Sam Cane's early appointment as All Blacks captain. They should probably crawl back to where they came from, writes @TomVinicombe. https://t.co/TJ4L0AHTuj
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 22, 2020
Despite being in the twilight years of his career and still playing rugby at an age that many players would never dream of continuing until, Messam is still as fit as he’s ever been – thanks to the good values that were instilled in him during his career with the New Zealand national sevens team.
“I pride myself on my work ethic and my effort and that. As you get older, it’s not a challenge, exactly, but it sort of motivates you, still competing with the young fellas. Especially in the gym, and on the footy field, and when we’re doing fitness and that, you’re sort of just like, ‘Oh yeah, I’ll show you – I’ll show you what a 36-year-old can do.’ I might take a few more days to recover from it, but I still push myself.”
It’s not just the working with the youngsters that Messam appreciates – it’s also the men who are working tirelessly to achieve their dreams of playing for Waikato while still holding down work outside of rugby.
“The first week I was back, I went to early morning training, I think it was 6:30 or whatever. Once we’d done our weights and that, some of the boys walked out of the changing sheds in their high viz and their workboots,” Messam said. “That really humbled me straight away. These guys have to go to work after training so I’m just super grateful – I can’t complain at all.
“I’ve worked my ass off to be a full-time professional for my whole career but to see these boys walk out in their high viz and workbooks, I was just like ‘whoah’. It was a really humbling experience.”
With Waikato, Messam is linking back up with head coach Andrew Strawbridge, who has been an assistant with the Chiefs since 2012. He’s also got pretty strong connections with assistant coaches Nathan White and Ross Filipo, who he won NPC and Super Rugby titles with, respectively.
“I’ve been really impressed by those two,” Messam said of his former teammates. “They’re awesome coaches and even though they’re my mates, they’ve still got that level of professionalism that can still tell me where to go or what to do and still be my mate afterwards.
“I’ve been really impressed by both of them and how they’ve been able to transition from playing into coaching.”
While Messam won’t be able to achieve centurion status for Waikato this season, he’ll likely end 2020 just a few caps short. That’s not something that really motivates the former Chiefs captain, however.
“Since I’ve announced that I was coming back to play, everyone’s brought that up,” Messam said. “I don’t really think about that, I’m sort of coming to that time in my career where I don’t play for stats or numbers or anything like that. It’s more the positive impact I can have in an environment or a culture that really drives me.
“We’ll see how this season goes first. I’ve got to just recover from trainings at the moment so we’ll see how we go after the end of the season. I’ll sit down and re-assess and see how things are going.”
That doesn’t mean Messam won’t make a return to the red, black and yellow stripes next year, however.
“I’ll always work hard but I’ll always look after myself, my body. If the mind is right, the heart’s right, then why not?”
While the rugby landscape is quickly changing due to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, Messam isn’t too concerned with the future and happy to see how things go in the coming months before making a decision on next year.
“Just with everything that’s going on, it’s pretty difficult to get your head around things and where things are at and again, the first priority for me is daddy day-care, which has just been absolutely awesome and good for the soul,” he said.
“I’m taking every day as it comes and we’ll see how things go.”
Whatever the future holds, any Waikato side will be better for having Liam Messam on their books – that will become increasingly apparent when the Mooloos kick off their season against Wellington on September 12.
Comments on RugbyPass
A wallaby front-row of Bell, Blake and Tupou…now that would be hefty
1 Go to comments“But with an exceptional pass accuracy rating “ Which apart from Roigard is not a feature of any of the other 9s in NZ. Kind of basic for a Black 9 dont.you. think? Yet we keep seeing FC and TJ being rated ahead of him? Weird if it’s seen as vital to get our backline beating in your face defences.
1 Go to commentsThanks BeeMc! Looks like many teams need extra time to settle from the quadrennial northern migration. I think generally the quality of the Rugby has held up. Fiji has been fantastic and fun to watch
13 Go to commentsLets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
11 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
10 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
11 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
24 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
10 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
35 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
35 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
17 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to comments