Tupou Vaa'i and the background work fueling All Blacks 'weapon'

Among the standout players for the All Blacks in 2024 has been lock Tupou Vaa’i. The 24-year-old has stepped into the shoes of the great Brodie Retallick to ease fears over the future of New Zealand’s second row after the 109-cap great’s international retirement.

Vaa’i has been nominated for the ASB Rugby Awards’ All Blacks Player of the Year award after a breakthrough season at the international level where he put all of his learnings from the mentorship of Retallick and fellow great Sam Whitelock into practice.

Vaa’i was handed big responsibilities in the lineout, which became a real strength for the All Blacks by the end of the 2024 campaign and his work around the park helped establish him as the go-to guy for Scott Robertson in the No. 5 jersey.

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“You walk past the team room most nights and you see those boys going through their lineout defence, you see all the work that goes in in the background, you see the meetings that the players will have themselves and what they’re driving,” All Blacks attack coach Scott Hansen told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod when Vaa’i’s impressive growth was raised by former All Black James Parsons.

“You’re right, Tups has been phenomenal. He’s a young man that’s been given a bit of space as he’s gone through his trade. He’s had some very, very good All Blacks to learn from in Brodie and Sam, and this is his year. He’s out there, he’s getting game time, he’s grown as a leader. He’s a very special player.

“When you look at his game in regards to metrics and KPIs within our game, he’s always leading around what that looks like up front, the ability to carry, clean, dominate his area has been phenomenal and I agree with you mate, he’s had an outstanding year.

“I have the privilege to see it in the background and that’s walking past a lot of rooms at night and those boys are in there talking around lineouts and scrums and you’ve got to love it.”

Parsons previously spoke about what he’s seen from New Zealand’s lineout in 2024, delivering big praise to the likes of Vaa’i for their effectiveness against some of the world’s best operators.

“Our lineout defence is starting to become a bit of a weapon. When we did it against South Africa in South Africa I was like man, this is a growth in our game. You saw Wallace Sititi and Tupou Vaa’i getting massive steals,” he said.

“It just keeps getting better and better and it is so disruptive. How frustrating is it when you can’t win your lineout? Backs are looking at forwards going ‘ah’.

“The pressure and expectation, you’ve got to go for quick throws which may put you into a troubled position. Remember the quick throw-in in Wellington that led to the Springboks scoring (in 2018). All those sorts of things compound that pressure and it was nice for the All Blacks, with a lot of experience out, to execute.”