Being there for Vaea Fifita’s two biggest highlights
Last year Vaea Fifita hurdled clean over a player in a provincial game. On Saturday night he shook the rugby world with a barnstorming 40 metre run in for a try. Jamie Wall was there to see both.
If you’ve ever come to Auckland, you’ll know about the traffic. It dominates everything, whether it’s simply getting work or popping up as idle small talk in any sort of social situation. It’s so bad it often dictates weighing up if it’s even worth leaving your house, and the unlikely event of getting somewhere on the motorway quicker than you think is a cause for celebratory Facebook post.
The night Counties-Manukau hosted Wellington in the Mitre 10 Cup last year was, unfortunately, not one of those times. My friend and I found ourselves gridlocked, bumper to bumper straight after work as we made our journey from the city to Eco Light Stadium in Pukekohe.
We’d left at 5. There was no guarantee that the 40km journey would be over by the time the game was scheduled to start at 7:35.
While our bladders were heaving as we crawled along the motorway, this wasn’t the most pain the Wellington rugby team had put Chris and I through. We had the misfortune of being teenage fans throughout the 1990’s, when a mid-table finish was pretty much guaranteed. However, the 2015 season made that time seem like a distant, happy memory – Wellington lost 10 games in a row.
We lived in Auckland now, so our trip to Pukekohe was the only chance we’d have to watch our freshly relegated home team in person. They were battling it out with a side they used to crush regularly, even back when we had a whole stand to ourselves at Athletic Park. We weren’t expecting much, but it turned out our arduous drive put us in place to see Vaea Fifita announce himself to the rugby world.
We made it to the ground just in time for kickoff, and had spent most of the first half discussing options for a better Auckland transit system when this happened:
It looked impressive in real life, even though we were over the other side of the field from where it happened. It wasn’t until the replay went up on the big screen that everyone really saw how amazing his hurdle of Counties first five Piers Francis really was, with the home crowd gasping in amazement.
We forgot about the traffic, Wellington’s horrible record and the meagre selection of food available at Eco Light Stadium. Vaea Fifita had just reignited our passion for domestic rugby. We went from being cynics laughing about how attached we were to such a disappointing team as youngsters to acting like we were impressionable kids back at Athletic Park.
The game ended up being a classic, with Jackson Garden-Bachop kicking a 50 metre penalty to win the game for Wellington. The team was presented with the Jonah Lomu trophy, fittingly huge and difficult to handle.
We spent the much less time-consuming drive back marvelling at what we’d just seen, the likelihood of it making Sportcenter’s Top 10 plays and a woefully tenuous story by me about how I’d been on the field for a similar incident in a lower grade club game.
Of course, it wasn’t the first time Fifita had done something amazing on a rugby field. Since he’d arrived in Wellington from Tonga, he enjoyed a debut club season in which he scored 26 tries, including this one in which he ran the length of the field off the back of a scrum.
Anyone who saw any of that knew he was something special, now we were in the know by virtue of seeing his ridiculous tackle evasion with our own eyes. Since then, whenever he’s done anything remotely impressive, Chris and I message each other applauding the progress of ‘our guy’.
Since then, he had a strong season for the Hurricanes and it was little surprise when he was called into the All Blacks in June for his test debut against Manu Samoa. He was uncharacteristically talked up by the All Black coaching staff, a major departure from the usually careful introduction to a starting spot via the reserves bench that All Blacks usually get.
If the hurdle got everyone’s interest, Fifita’s stunning 40 metre run in for a try against the Pumas on Saturday got their attention. I was there for that too, in a much larger crowd than the one in Pukekohe a year ago. Up until then the crowd was getting restless as the All Blacks had been yet to stamp their authority on the game, the roar that went up as Fifita cut a swathe of destruction down the sideline was one of relief as well as sheer exhilaration.
He now finds himself in a very interesting battle with Liam Squire and Jerome Kaino for the All Blacks’ number six jersey – with Squire being the talk of the town a few weeks ago after his display in Sydney and Kaino’s continued absence raising questions about whether he’ll ever return.
Vaea Fifita cut a huge but incredibly shy figure on Saturday night after the test as the media huddled around him post game. The top button of his dress shirt wasn’t done up, probably because it couldn’t fit around his huge neck. Dane Coles stood beside him as the reporters asked Fifita about his memorable debut, offering support to a teammate clearly still coming to terms with the amount of scrutiny he’d be under from now on.
His answers were in brief, broken English. Every soundbite that’s come out of the All Black camp regarding him has included the fact that he doesn’t talk much anyway.
It didn’t matter. What he’s doing on the field is speaking volumes.
Comments on RugbyPass
I certainly don’t miss drinking beers at 8am in the morning watching rugby games being played in NZ.
1 Go to commentsThis looks like a damage limitation exercise for Wales, keeping back some of their more effective players for the last 20/25 minutes to try and counter England’s fresh legs so the Red Roses don’t rack up a big score.
1 Go to commentsVery unlikely the Bulls will beat Leinster in Dublin. It would be different in Pretoria.
1 Go to commentsI think it is a dangerous path to go down to ban a player for the same period that a player they injured takes to recover. Players would be afraid to tackle anyone. I once tackled my best friend at school in a practice match and sprained his ankle. I paid for it by having to play fly-half instead of full-back for the rest of that season’s fixtures.
5 Go to commentsJust such a genuine good bloke…and probably the best all round player in his generation. Good guys do come first sometimes and he handled the W.Cup loss with great attitude.
2 Go to commentsWord in France is that he’s on the radar of a few Top14 clubs.
2 Go to commentsGet blocking Travis, this guy has styles and he’s gonna make a swift impact…!
1 Go to commentsWhat remorse? She claimed that her dangerous tackle wasn’t worthy of a red! She should be compensating the injured player for loss of earnings at the minimum. Her ban should include the recovery time of the injured player as well as the paltry 3 match ban.
5 Go to commentsArdie is a legend. Finished and klaar. Two things: “Yeah, yeah, I have had a few conversations with Razor just around feedback on my game and what I am doing well, what I need to improve on or work-ons. It’s kind of been minimal, mate, but it’s all that I need over here in terms of how to be better, how to get better and what I am doing well.” I hope he’s downplaying it - and that it’s not that “minimal”. The amount of communication and behind the scenes preparation the Bok coaches put into players - Rassie and co would be all over Ardie and being clear on what is expected of him. This stands out for me as something teams should really be looking at in terms of the boks success from a coaching point of view. And was surprised by the comment - “minimal”. In terms of the “debate” around Ireland and South Africa. Nice one Ardie. Indeed. There’s no debate.
2 Go to commentsThere’s a bit of depth there but realistically Australian players have a long way to go to now catch up. The game is moving on fast and Australia are falling behind. Australian sides still don’t priories the breakdown like they should, it’s a non-negotiable if you want to compete on the international stage. That goes for forwards and backs. The Australian team could have a back row that could make a difference but the problem is they don’t have a tight five that can do the business. Tupou is limited in defence, overweight and unfit and the locks are a long way from international standard. Frost is soft and Salakai-Loto is too small so that means they need a Valentini at 8 who has to do the hard graft so limits the effectiveness of the backrow. Schmidt really needs to get a hard working, tough tight 5 if he wants to get this team firing.
3 Go to commentsSorry Morgan you must have been the “go to for a quote” ex player this week. Its rnd 6 and there is plenty of time to cement a starting 15 and finishing 8 so I have no such concerns.
2 Go to commentsGreat read. I wish you had done this article on the ROAR.
2 Go to commentsThe current AB coaching team is basically the Crusaders so it smacks of wanting their familiar leaders around. This is not a good look for the future of the ABs or the younger players in Super working their way up the player ladder. Razor is touted as innovative, forward looking but his early moves look like insecurity and insular, provincial thinking. He is the AB's coach not the Golden Oldies.
10 Go to commentsSimple reason for wanting him back. Robertson wants him as captain. Otherwise he wouldn’t be bothering chasing him. Not enough reason to come back just to mentor.
10 Go to commentsI had not considered this topic like this at all, brilliant read. I had been looking at his record at the Waratahs and thought it odd the Crusaders appointed him, then couple that with all that experience and talent departing and boom. They’ve got some great talent developing though, and in all honesty I don’t think anyone would be over confident taking them on in a playoff match, no matter how poor the first half of their season was. I think they can pull a game out of their ass when it counts.
2 Go to commentsNot a bad list but not Porecki and not Donaldson. Not because they are Tahs, or Ex Tahs, they are just not good enough. Edmed should be ahead. Far more potential. Wilson should be 8 and Valentini 6. Wilson needs to be told by his father and his coach, stop bloody running in to brick wall defence. You’re not playing under the genius Thorn any more. He’s a fantastic angle runner. The young new 8 from the Brumbies looks really good too. The Lonegrans are just too small for international rugby as is Paisami, as is Hamish Stewart at 12. Both great at Super Rugby level. Stewart could have been a great 10 if not for Brad Thorn. Uru should be there and so should Tupou. Tupou just needs good Australian coaching which he hasn’t been getting. I don’t think Schmidt will excite him.
3 Go to commentsIf he wants to come back then he should. He will be a major asset to the younger locks and could easily be played as an impact player off the bench coming on in the last 30. He is fit, strong and capable and has all the experience to make up for any loss in physical prowess. He could also be brought back with a view to coaching within the structures one day. Duane Vermeulen played until he was 37 or 38. He is now a roaming coach within the South African coaching structures. He was valuable in the last world cup and has been a major influence on Jasper Wiese and other young players which has helped and accelerated their development and growth. Whitelock could do the exact same thing for NZ
10 Go to commentsBrett Excellent words… finally someone (other than DC) has noted that Hanigan is very hard and very good at doing what Backrow should do… his performance via the Drua sauna was quite daunting for those on the other side… very high tackle count… carries with good end result… constant threat to make a good 20-25 meters with those long legs… providing his mass effectively to crunching the Drua pack… Finally he is returning to quality form… way to much injury time over the last 2 years… smart-strong-competent in his skills… caught every lineout throw aimed at him and delivered clean pass to whoever was down below… and he worked hard for the whole 80 minutes… Ned has to be in the top 5 for backrow honors… He knows what is required as he has been there before…
20 Go to commentsI think Sam Whitelock should not touch a return with a bargepole. He went out on a high, playing in the RWC Final. He would be coming back into a team that will be weaker than last years, and might even be struggling to win games, especially against the Boks. Stay in France, enjoy another year with Pau, playing alongside his brother.
10 Go to commentsRyan Coxon has been very impressive considering he was signed by WF as injury cover whilst Uru has been a standout for QR, surprised neither of those mentioned
3 Go to comments