Rugby: Blackie happy to be home

Blues flanker Josh Blackie will face his southern mates tonight. Photo / Richard Robinson

Josh Blackie is back in Blue and back in form, but he is keeping his cards close to his chest ahead of tonight's showdown with former team the Highlanders.

This man clearly didn't come down in the last shower.

Pressed for his thoughts about facing the Highlanders, a team he captained, from the city he lived in and loved for the best part of a decade, the veteran Blues openside simply knocked down the questions with a flat bat.

He didn't, he indicated, want to say anything that could be either misinterpreted as a sign he was less than 100 per cent committed to his new team, or used as motivation by his mates at the Highlanders.

In short, there wasn't much to be gained by flapping his jaw.

"I don't want to say too much," he eventually offers. "You can end up just setting yourself up for a fall. I was proud of what I did down there and my heart has always definitely been down there but I am in the Blues now and that is my priority.

"It is just another game of rugby. A lot of my mates are in the other team and I'm sure they'll be trying to get me, like I am trying to get them."

Even when a young reporter from a radio station asked him how, as a true Southern Man, he felt about running out on to Eden Park as a Blue, Blackie barely blinked, politely pointing out that he was actually born and raised in West Auckland.

In fairness to the suitably-embarrassed inquisitor, Blackie's slightly ghostly complexion and understated, careful approach to conversation make it easy enough to mistake him as a genuine southerner.

Not quite a Southern Man but still part of an increasingly rare breed - Blackie is one of the few remaining examples of a talented bloke who went to Dunedin to combine education and rugby.

Previously Otago rugby's best recruiting tool, the city's university is no longer the drawcard it once was. Professionalism has put paid to that.

But back when Blackie wanted to do a physical education degree, Otago was the only place in the country offering the course.

The rest, as they say, is history.

He completed his degree, threw in a second major in commerce and a certificate in environmental science for good measure, and spent the best part of his twenties toiling away on rugby fields, decked out in blue and gold.

He went close to All Blacks selection, turning out for the junior side, but was ranked below Richie McCaw and Daniel Braid for the bulk of his career.

In 2007, he upped sticks for Japan, joining the Kobelco Steelers. The quality of rugby wasn't great, and his employment options at the club's owner, Kobe Steel, were non-existent.

"I asked them if I could work for them but they just saw me as a footy player. It was pretty hard. Without being able to speak the language, at a steel company, apart from shovelling coal into a furnace, there is not much you could do."

Eventually, Blackie began to wonder just what he was doing in Japan. "I was only 28 and I still thought I had a few more years left in the old legs. I thought 'why am I wasting my rugby career playing in Japan when I could be putting my best foot forward over here?'."

Initially, he considered offers to join South African and Australian teams, but the NZRU got wind of his intention to return to Super Rugby and, with Braid's pending exit in mind, made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

"When it came down to it I thought 'I haven't got any passion for those overseas teams'. When the going got tough I wouldn't know how I would react."

There was also the lure of playing for his home-town team. Blackie actually played 20 minutes for the Blues as a draft player late in the 2002 season, but he still considers this to be his first season with the Blues.

After a promising start he missed four matches with an ankle injury. He returned last week against the Lions, putting in a performance that earned rave reviews from his coach Pat Lam and the wider rugby media.

But Blackie has been around long enough not to get carried away with all that. If anything, he seemed a little embarrassed by the reaction to his effort, much less talk of him finally becoming an All Black.

Having one last shot at cracking the national team, he insists, wasn't a factor in his decision to return to New Zealand.

"That wasn't the focus. I was just keen to play some good footy. I have got no control over that sort of thing. I spent eight or nine years putting my best foot forward and that wasn't good enough. So you just get on with it and keep playing and enjoying your rugby."

A knock to his knee late on against the Lions meant Blackie was on light duties at training this week. After a career spent at the coalface that is the breakdown in modern rugby, managing his workload has become vital.

"You see all the old fellas sitting on the sidelines," he says. "But as long as you keep yourself in good nick, when you get to my age you can still get out there and perform."

Which is precisely what he is aiming to do tonight. The showdown with the Highlanders might be special to him personally, but Blackie knows it is a vital match for his team.

"It is a game for both teams that is going to define what they are about. Whoever comes out on the right side of the ledger is going to be in a good position. We want that to be us so we'll be playing with a lot of heart to ensure that happens.

"The team that wants it most is going to be the one that comes up with the points."