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
The World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
1 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
41 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
1 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
2 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
19 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments