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You are here: Home » News Comment » Once a Misfit - Now a Centurion. One lad's look at where Ma'a Nonu came from.
30 September 2015
In his next appearance for the All Blacks, Ma'a Nonu will become the 6th All Black to pass the milestone of appearing in 100 test matches. Here is one young correspondent's memory of his first sighting of the big midfield star. Adam Julian of Wellington takes up what was for him a very sad story....
Hello, my name is Adam. It is 2000 and I am a podgy, spotty-faced schoolboy whose squeaky tenor is rapidly turning hoarse.
I am at St. Patrick’s College, Silverstream in Wellington crowded on an embankment along with similarly delirious and odious smelling lads.
We are watching our First XV tackle Rongotai College in the annual traditional fixture.
These days are big. The entire school is let out of class for the afternoon to barrack for our boys.
We are expected to win but Rongotai College is always a dangerous opponent, despite our lopsided historical advantage.
They appear to be a tag of misfits, especially when contrasted with Silverstream boys.
Silverstream is a white, middle-class Catholic school. Our faces are clean shaven. Our uniforms are tidy and our hair does not extend beyond shoulder length. Our rugby teams play in a hard and calculated fashion. Later in the season we triumph in the local championship.
Rongotai are more cosmopolitan. Their uniforms are scruffy, shirts are untucked and some boys wear odd socks. Their supporters sing songs that don’t take the hallelujah out of hallelujah and their hair is liberally long. They play rugby with cheek. They can be super and shite in the same phase.
They are Silverstream’s anthesis.
With two minutes left Silverstream are up 24-19; it's uncomfortably close. We haven’t played well, but this team knows how to get it done.
Last play and this bloke with dreadlocks busts our usually secure defence. To us privileged 'Dooleys' (Catholics) he looks like an overaged Rastafarian bodybuilder.
He goes and he goes, surely not! But yes, he scores. We are all stunned.
Silence is temporary. The same bloke lines up the conversion to win the game. He can’t kick this. It would be blasphemy. It is right on the sideline.
We taunt without mercy, Django Unchained suddenly sounds like Sesame Street. The ball leaves the tee and like a dagger through the heart sails down the middle of the posts. Rongotai wins 26-24.
Fast forward fifteen years and that Rongotai heathen will play his 100th Test for the All Blacks on Friday.
Ma’a Nonu once described himself as an enigma – and that he is.
He is the most yellow carded player in Super Rugby history and one its most capped nomads.
He was loathed by the most fabled franchise. The Crusaders didn’t want a bar of him, yet he happily carries the water for his Wellington club team, Oriental Rongotai.
He once took umbrage at a critical match report. Quizzed on why he was so upset, he said it was because his parents had read it.
Then there was mascara, Colin Meads' heart rate would have soared.
In 2007 Nonu was omitted from the All Blacks World Cup squad.
The relative lightweights of Aaron Mauger, Luke McAlister, Isaia Toeava and Mils Muliaina (it’s true) were the preferred midfield stocks.
After four seasons, and 19 Tests, the then 25-year-old appeared finished.
Since 2008, Nonu has played 81 of the All Blacks 104 Tests. He has started 83 Tests overall and won 87 times.
He has shared the midfield with Conrad Smith 55 times. Their respective nicknames ‘the Snake’ and ‘the Rock’ capture their opposing styles perfectly.
Smith is silky. Nonu is a bully. Smith outwits you. Nonu hurts you.
Nonu has matured into the complete footballer. He has always been explosive with or without the ball, but now those attributes are complemented by deceptively light feet, a precise and varied kicking game and a greater all-around astuteness.
In 2011 he won the William Webb Ellis trophy and was on the shortlist for IRB World player of the year.
The All Blacks have produced some fairly handy second-fives over the years. Warwick Taylor, Ian MacRae, Walter Little and Bert Cooke immediately spring to mind.
Do those names strike fear into the opposition like Nonu?
Do those names boast the longevity of success Nonu has enjoyed?
Nonu has polarised. He has upset the apple cart.
He is the magnificent misfit who fits.
I only wish I appreciated that 15 years ago.
.............
Comments 0
All four tests were won by NZ. On this day the 4th test went to the home team by a whopping 38-6 in Auckland.
QUINNELL, DEREK
Llanelli and Wales
23 internationals for Wales 1972–80
5 internationals for British Isles 1971–80
QUINNELL, SCOTT
Llanelli, Richmond and Wales
52 internationals for Wales 1993-2002
3 internationals for British Lions
QUINNELL, CRAIG
Llanelli, Richmond, Cardiff and Wales
32 internationals for Wales 1995-2002
One of the big names of Welsh rugby through the 1970s, Derek Quinnell was a rugged and durable forward who could, and did, play in various positions in international matches. Later, his two sons Scott and Craig, who were bigger physically than he was, both played for Wales and one of them followed him into a British Lions touring team.
Derek Quinnell hit the headlines when he was named for the 1971 British Isles tour to New Zealand as the only uncapped player in the side. While on tour he made his international debut against the All Blacks at Wellington. His first game for Wales was as a replacement against France in Cardiff in 1972. In his long career, which included three tours for the British Isles, he played in four teams that beat various All Black sides, which could be a record for a British player – twice in tests for the British Isles, once for the Barbarians and once for his club Llanelli, in its famous game in 1972.
When his playing days were over Quinnell was quickly promoted, first to being a Welsh selector and then as assistant coach of the Welsh team for the Rugby World Cup in 1987.
The first of his sons, Scott, made his debut only 13 years after his father quit. Scott became hugely popular with Welsh fans throughout a career which lasted ten seasons. He was a massive man and his barging runs from the number eight position were seen as a symbol of hope for Welsh rugby that success would follow if everyone could follow the example set by big Scott.
His career had a number of twists and turns. He was lured to rugby league in 1995 and played for Wigan. That meant he missed the World Cup that year. But with the arrival of the professional rugby union game he was back by 1997. He tried his hand with the Richmond club in London but when they fell on hard times he went back to his home town of Llanelli. In his time he went on two Lions tours but in one, to South Africa in 1997, he did not play in any of the test matches. It was in 2001 that he really showed what he could do. In that year’s Lions team he played in his usual bustling style and was rewarded with selection in the three test matches against Australia. The legion of British fans who followed the tour loved him and, one suspects, the Aussie fans admired him.
He played well after returning home but grew weary of the consistent back and knee problems and after playing against Canada in Millennium Stadium in 2002 he waved to the crowds afterwards and announced his retirement. He had had a long and illustrious career.
Craig Quinnell was the younger of the two test-playing brothers. He first appeared against Fiji in 1995, a game won by Wales by only 19-15 (two tries each). He was dropped after that, and took 3 years to regain a starting test position. Craig was a lock forward similar in style to his older brother and some respects played in his shadow, though when the two were together they were a powerhouse pair for Welsh teams.
A third brother Gavin played professionally in Wales as well.
The family lines of this family were added to with the addition of the great Barry John into the mix. Derek Quinnell and Barry were brothers-in-law which makes all the boys the nephews of the former great flyhalf.
Why was the France v Ireland match of 1913 played in the morning in Cork?
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