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'The carcass is all good': Dane Coles reflects on long-awaited return
All Blacks hooker Dane Coles has bounced back from more injuries than most, with the 34-year-old, making his starting return to the team in their 47-9 win over Italy over the weekend.
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Coles was fit and firing when the test season kicked off and after starting against Tonga and featuring off the pine against Fiji, he was set to again add impact in the All Blacks’ final test of their July series before he pulled up rough in the match-day warm-up and was replaced by debutant Samisoni Taukei’aho.
“Basically, the bus was late for the game,” Ian Foster revealed after that fixture. “We got stuck in traffic and we probably had a quicker warm-up than what we needed and [Coles’] calf’s just tightened so we’ll look at that in the next few days.”
Coles didn’t feature in either of the All Blacks’ remaining games in New Zealand and then remained at home when the squad travelled to Australia for the Rugby Championship.
It was against the USA Eagles in mid-October that Coles finally made his return to action via the bench, clocking up half an hour of action and touching down for one try.
Given the hooker’s age and history of injuries, it was no surprise that the 34-year-old had some trepidations ahead of his return – especially in the warm-up, where he had suffered his last setback.
“It probably was in the back of my mind a little bit,” Coles admitted after scoring two tries against Italy. “In the USA game, I obviously had the same routine and the first kind of sprint I did, it was in the back of my head but once I got through it, I was sweet as.
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“Just been working hard with Pete [Gallagher], the physio, and Gilly [strength and conditioning coach Nic Gill], just to kind of keep the body going and doing things a little bit differently. I suppose all that matters is getting on the field and that’s when all your work is done so yeah, I’ve had to alter a couple of little things to, I wouldn’t say conserve the body, but just make sure I’m humming for game day. It’s just about being a little bit smarter and working with the trainers to make sure I’m ready to go.”
Coles has signed on with New Zealand Rugby until the end of 2023 and will be hoping to travel to France that year for what would be his third Rugby World Cup. It would be a remarkable feat for a man who’s spent plenty of time on the sidelines due to myriad injuries, including concussion and ruptured knee ligaments.
While the victory on Saturday didn’t come easily, despite the eventual heavy scorelines in NZ’s favour, Coles was ecstatic just to get back out on the park.
“The carcass is all good. The lungs are heaving like usual but pulled up pretty sweet today,” he said following the match. “[It was a ] 2 o’clock game so we jumped in the pool straight after the game which fitted me quite well, to be honest.
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Veteran halfback Aaron Smith has been handed a shock recall into the All Blacks squad ahead of the side's clash against Ireland in Dublin this weekend. #AllBlacks #IREvNZL #AutumnNationsSeries https://t.co/wChMXIhwLN
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“Tough old battle out there. Obviously, they played with a lot of passion, put us under a lot of pressure in that first 30 minutes and we probably didn’t adapt as well as we like. But I think with the crew that we had, it was a big learning step for a lot of the boys. That’s why they call it a test match. Stoked how we kind of stuck to it and got the win but it wasn’t pretty. Some good learnings for a lot of young boys and some senior campaigners as well. It was all good.”
For the man himself, Coles was pleased with the 50 minutes of action he had against Italy.
“I have very high expectations of myself and I probably felt a little bit extra pressure in that team to kind of lead a little bit more because of the men that we had, with the inexperience of the side.
“I enjoyed it, we had a good game, we went alright. I bloody enjoyed being back out there and having a run, pulling on the black jersey.”
While Coles has spent much of the year at home in Wellington, the All Blacks completed a five-match stint in Australia before the hooker joined the team in America.
Despite the long slog of a year, Coles reported that there didn’t appear to be any signs of tiring teammates in camp, especially with the young teammates he’s lined up alongside in his two matches to date.
“Coming in, I felt like one of those guys that’d been missing out on his school mates and you come in and the boys were just energetic and [had] real good connections,” he said.
“I think both weeks I’ve been involved, there’s been real good energy from the guys because obviously some of those guys haven’t had too much footy.
“I’ve been checking in with a lot of the lads, they reckon it’s gone pretty quick so there’s no social loafing or stuff like that. The boys are really keen to still be in the environment.”
The All Blacks’ tour will come to an end in two weeks’ time, after taking on Ireland in Dublin and France in Paris.
Comments on RugbyPass
Wow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
1 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
13 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)
1 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
1 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
4 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
16 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
16 Go to commentsNZ rugby seem not to have learnt anything from professional rugby. Super rugby was dying and SA left before they died with the competition. SA rugby did a u turn on their approach to international players playing overseas and such players are now selected for Bok teams. As much as each country would love to retain their players playing in local competitions, this is the way the world is evolving my friends. Move with it or stay 20 years behind the times. One more thing. NZ rugby hierarchy think they are the big cheese. Take a more humble approach guys. You do not seem to have your players best interests at heart.
3 Go to commentsBeaches? In Cardiff? Where?
1 Go to commentsHe is right , the Crusaders will be a threat. Scott Barrett, ( particularly), Fergus Burke , Codie Taylor, ( from sabbatical) etc due back soon for the Crusaders. There are others like Zach Gallagher too. People can right the Crusaders off, Top 8 , here we come !!
1 Go to commentsWe will always struggle for money to match the other sides but the least the WRU can do is invest properly in Welsh rugby. Too much has been squandered on vanity projects like the hotel and roof walk amongst others which will never see a massive return. Hanging the 4 pro sides out to dry over the last decade is now coming back to bite the WRU financially as well as on the pitch. You reap what you sow.
1 Go to commentsWhat do you get if you cross a doctor with a fish? A plastic sturgeon
14 Go to commentsWhat happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to commentsGregor I just can’t agree with you. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. Jordie Barrett has signed until 2028. By the end of that he would have spent probably 11-12 years on Super Rugby and you say he can’t possibly have one season playing somewhere else. It is absurd. What about this scenario, the NZR play hard ball and he decides to leave and play overseas. How would that affect the competition. There seems to be an agenda by certain journalists to push certain agendas and don’t like it when it’s not to their liking. I fully support the NZR on this. Gregor needs to get a life.
3 Go to commentsHope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
4 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
3 Go to commentsJake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
16 Go to comments