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'What the heck is going on?’: How Ireland's style helped young Taranaki centre to a Blues contract
After winning ten consecutive games in 2021, Taranaki collapsed in the 2022 NPC slumping to seven defeats in ten outings. Taranaki’s inconsistency appeared set to continue in 2023. Following three wins on the trot to start the season they dropped their next three games as a playoff berth became tenuous.
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Coach Neil Barnes was in Italy assisting the Azzurri. He was also overhauling the amber and blacks game plan from the Northern Hemisphere, which suited centre Meihana Grindlay down to the ground.
“Our new game plan and defense system was modeled on how Ireland plays with double back door pods on attack and a new alignment on defense,” Grindlay told RugbyPass.
“Originally we were like, ‘What the heck is going on?’ We’re not used to playing like this, everyone plays a 1-3-3-1 pattern. After we lost to Tasman we had a bit of an honesty session. We had to make it work. We did. We didn’t lose again.”
Suddenly Taranaki had more room and variety to attack. Grindlay thrived with his hard running, regular offloads, and solid tackling earning him a Super Rugby contract with the Blues.
He saved his best for the NPC Premiership final. He scored a crucial try as Taranaki beat Hawke’s Bay 22-19 in front of a rapturous crowd in New Plymouth. The attendance was larger than some teams’ combined attendance for the season.
“That game will go down as one of my greatest achievements in rugby. Words can’t describe the emotions of winning that game in front of my family and friends and giving back to the community that had gone without a proper stadium for years,” Grindlay reflected.
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“I’m not sure if more teams will adopt the Taranaki approach in Super Rugby but some of the Blues boys have been curious. I might stop talking so I can help the Naki go back-to-back.”
One of five siblings, Grindlay’s roots are entrenched in Taranaki. His father Kepe has been a school teacher for 27 years in Manaia, the “bread capital” of New Zealand where Mum Tineke works for Yarrows.
Rugby league was Meihana’s first calling until he was spotted playing Sevens at the Aims Games, an intermediate-aged style national Olympics. King’s College came knocking and Grindlay was headed to Auckland on scholarship.
“King’s. I’d never heard of it until I was flicking the TV one day and saw my friend Ciarahn Matoe from Taranaki taking a kick. I was like, ‘Far I’ll never go to a school like that,’ and then I ended up there.
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“King’s pretty much changed my world. It wasn’t just the top rugby coaching and education I got, it’s the wicked connections you make.
“There were so many rugby highlights. My debut was against New Plymouth Boys’ High School at the Gully in Year 10 which was special because I got to play in front of my parents.
“In 2019 we won the Auckland Championship, Moascar Cup, and made the National Final. That was huge as King’s hadn’t done that since 2005. The culture was awesome. I was particularly close with Aidan Morgan who’s in the Hurricanes now.”
Grindlay was picked for the New Zealand Secondary Schools. He debuted for Taranaki in 2021 and has played 20 games, earning a Union blazer.
Joining the Blues was a logical decision for Grindlay who will be mentored by All Blacks centre and Blues centurion Reiko Ioane (69 Tests, 36 tries).
The Blues pre-season tour of Japan consists of fixtures against Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath on February 3 and Yokohama Canon Eagles on February 10.
They start their Super Rugby regular season campaign against the Fijian Dura in Whang?rei on February 24.
Comments on RugbyPass
Unsuccessful bitter ex Ulster player taking a pop shot at a side that isn't including his consistently poor mates up north
4 Go to commentsHis decision to play in France isn’t a petulant decision as this article suggests. I reckon that France is the perfect place to demonstrate that he can mix it in those battles Rassie references. It’s a good decision to try get into the squad. My personal opinion is that he wins more battles than he loses. I don’t have Rassie’s stats machine behind me, but Daymian’s is so strong moving through traffic and in the rip.
3 Go to commentsWow! Argie forward dominance is something I have not read in years….
1 Go to commentsIs the ‘snub’ really why he is leaving? He hasn’t said that has he? You don’t have to stay in SA to play for the Boks, so it’s not that he’s giving up on trying to get into the squad as the case would be in, say, England or New Zealand. Rassie made it clear that the early camps won’t feature all the players to play for the Boks this year so I can’t imagine Dayimani was too offended by being overlooked this time. It just seems like a sensationalist angle to take for a story without really knowing the player’s intentions.
3 Go to commentsWell, it is easily one of the best Irish sides, it’s just that their historical standard is very low.
4 Go to commentsThe Irish side is good. They have lost 2 games in the last 23 tests. In the last 12 months they have have a 60% win rate against the top 5 sides in the world. Over the same period south africa have a 67% win rate against the top 5 teams, and New Zealand are at 40%.
4 Go to commentsOnly 1247 days until RWC 2027 starts Bin Smuth🤣Can’t wait to see how unhinged you’re still gonna get between now & then
200 Go to commentsany chance either team will improve on their u20 world cup performances this time around? I assume both sides will be deeply disappointed with how things went.
6 Go to commentsAnother poor articles by a poor journo, nothing new from Ben, at least you are consistently bad lol, geez I will try and watch the match later, clearly Benny was only looking to one end of the pitch, hard to tell whom the Baby Blacks were playing if it wasn’t in the header 😄😄
7 Go to commentsNz should have won. I didn't watch the game, but the ref was at fault and the bounce of the ball and the Bokke used the Bomb squad and the Bokke slow the game down and the Bokke scrum. They should remove the scrum. The Bokke are to strong. Not fair. Nz should have won
7 Go to commentsProbably the worst article on a rugby match I have ever read
200 Go to commentsWho hurt this man.. LoL 😭
200 Go to commentsIt unfortunate for the Jaguares that they became formidable just as super rugby as we knew came to an end. However, the idea of bringing them back is nonsensical. While I enjoyed the Jaguares and the South African flavour of the comp, a selling point of this incarnation of super rugby is that all games are on a decent time for an Aussie audience.
4 Go to commentslol that’s your opinion Ben, All Blacks benefited from a forward pass try, SA played 77 min without a recognised hooker, missed a no try conversion and a penalty could have would have but didn’t
200 Go to commentsBrett, from my distant perspective, I hope you get to keep the Rebels. Any ideas of teams from Japan or Argentina are just crazy. Won’t happen. If you look at logistics, it is much easier to get to LA from Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney than to Buenos Aires. All with direct non-stop daily flights. You may even get some “gringos” to watch the games, with some younger players compared to Giteau and Nonu who still “play” in the area. I think it is virtually impossible to get a competitive Argie team for SR. All Pumas are in Europe, almost all second tier players are also in Europe. Fringe players are in South American pro rugby tournament (and many still in the MLR!) but these players who might be most interested in joining a new Jaguares do not have the skills to compete. As I have been saying since the Jaguares joined, they should have had TWO teams to make logistics for visiting teams better and Argie player development improved as well. Jaguares/Pumas was not ideal. But this is where Pichot and his cronies did not think long enough. Further the country with he new president “No hay Plata” Milei is in a very difficult situation. Galperin, the richest man in Argentina owns the Miami franchise of MLR. I don’t think you can get him to invest in Argentina. Actually, he played rugby himself. He was a fly half. He is worth around $6 billion!
4 Go to commentsWell done Baby Boks we will take the Draw. No 9 senseless long passes in those conditions. let’s move on and hope for some good weather
7 Go to commentsHow did it end a draw. South Africa didn’t score any points as far as I can see
7 Go to commentsNo doubt this will be a fantastic occasion and I plan to be there, but I think the bean counters have won out over the rugby brains. In my opinion, it is foolhardy to give the Black Ferns the experience of playing in front of 60,000+ at Twickenham a year before they might be playing there in a World Cup Final. Better to play France at Twickenham and Black Ferns at Kingsholm. The difference in takings would be miniscule.
1 Go to commentsDom kant
200 Go to commentsBen is a little incel desperately trying to stir the pot and stay relevant. We used to get mad at his articles. Now we just feel sorry for him
200 Go to comments