Indholdsfortegnelse for October/November 2021 i NZ Rugby World

What shapes as the biggest year in the history of women’s rugby in New Zealand is also a giant jigsaw of moving parts for coaches, players and administrators alike. How to accommodate three pinnacle events, a new professional competition and players who want to compete across both sevens and 15s is a happy headache to have, one the pioneers of the women’s game could have only dreamed of. But it’s a delicate proposition when player welfare, workload, contracting and payments are taken into consideration, not to mention that New Zealand is hosting one of those events and is defending champion in all three. There’s also a tricky balance of accommodating the full-time, fully professional sevens squad members weighed against the progression and development of those who are solely 15s players.…

I am honoured to be writing a column for RugbyWorld, to share my experiences both as a former player, and more recently as an administrator, in the contribution of Pasifika to rugby in New Zealand, Australasia, through to the global game. Looking back on my own playing career, and now witnessing the experiences of my son Caleb as he moves through his professional rugby journey, it is incredible to see how the cultural connection has strengthened and our sport has become all the better for it. When I was growing up, I was watching the All Blacks play on TV with my father and he pointed out the legend Sir Bryan Williams, which was the first realisation for me that Pasifika people can play for the All Blacks and it…

I ended up in the United States because rugby wasn’t any fun for me anymore. I’m not blaming rugby, but I had been involved in it some way or another since reporting on the 1981 Springbok tour and it was time for a change. We just needed to start seeing other sports, it wasn’t you rugby, it was me. It was a bit like having your favourite meal most days for 40 years, you start to look forward to broccoli every now and then. (Editor’s note Salizzo still eats spaghetti ragu most days of the week). I realised it when I covered the All Blacks to Ireland and Italy in 2018. The endless top table press conferences were a bit soulless compared to the fun that escaped in the amateur…

Brad Weber is used to being told he’s too small to play rugby. He’s had it all his life and has even had professional coaches tell him he’s not big enough for the rough and tumble of elite rugby. This is the same Weber who has played almost 200 first class games including 98 for the Chiefs and who is vying with TJ Pernara as the starting halfback for the All Blacks in the Rugby Championship. Sure he’s only 175cm tall - 5ft 8inches in the old measure - and he tips the scales at 75kgs, which is 20kgs lighter than Justin Marshall was, but Weber is more than capable of footing it with rugby’s big boys. And he’s not alone as a small man playing an increasingly big man’s…

Dalton Papali’i is a rather accidental All Black. He grew up wanting to play for the Kiwis. “My whole family are into league, so I did six years of league and then moved over to rugby because of the opportunity at Saint Kent’s. I love both sports though.” Saint Kent’s being Saint Kentigern College in Auckland, who Papali’i captained to the Auckland First XV title in 2015. But he may never have gone to the Pakuranga private school, let alone played union there, if it wasn’t for a challenge from a friend when he was younger. “I was playing league at the time and had a mate, who was a union player, say that if he played one season of league with me, then would I go and play one…

Timing is everything and David Havili wouldn’t change a thing. Well, almost. “I’d probably skip swallowing that toothpick though,” he admits. More on that later. Havili’s on the Northern tour with the All Blacks, as a second five-eight, but the road to get there wasn’t an easy one for the former fullback. He recalls a 110kg centre by the name of George Moala running at him full noise when Tasman took on Auckland in the NPC in 2014. It was a rude awakening for the 20-year-old who was 89kgs dripping wet. He was getting “smashed” on a regular basis and thought “this is probably not for me in the midfield”. Coach Leon MacDonald agreed, pulling Havili aside and telling him he was too small to be a midfielder. “So you’ve…

‘AT SUPER RUGBY AND TEST LEVEL, I WOULD GET FRUSTRATED WHEN SOMEONE DIDN’T UNDERSTAND THEIR ROLE OR MISSED A JUMP ON A PLAY OR FORGOT A LITTLE BIT OF KNOWLEDGE.’ Quade Cooper was so far on the outer reaches of the rugby galaxy that even his invitation to a reunion of former Wallabies would have taken a week to reach him in the days of the humble airmailed letter. You’ve got to love sport for delivering the bewitching twists and unforeseen scripts that it does. No one in Australian rugby saw the Cooper comeback coming at 33. Not even Cooper. That’s the very reason it had a chance to unfold. He had to give up dreams of playing for the Wallabies again before finding the true happiness that has led…

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MICHAEL TOLD ME THAT WE WILL FACE THE ALL BLACKS IN THE FINAL. HE HAD TRUST IN US BEFORE WE HAD TRUST IN OURSELVES. I REMEMBER HIS WORDS - “THE FRENCH, YOU THROW THEM OUT THE DOOR, THEY WILL COME-BACK BY THE WINDOW” It was a bleak time for France. They had opened the World Cup with wins against Japan and Canada but were well beaten in their pool game against the All Blacks and then the wheels fell off against Tonga. They lost 14-19 and the finger pointing, accusations, infighting and back stabbing kicked off, leaving skipper Thierry Dusautoir feeling lost and alone, and struggling to sleep. Then he got a phone call from Sir Michael Jones. The two had caught up a couple times over coffee but Jones…