Patrick Tuipulotu. Photo / Photosport
Patrick Tuipulotu is experienced enough to know where he stands and comfortable enough at his stage of career to speak his mind.
The All Blacks and Blues lock, in an interview with the Herald this week, candidly canvassed everything from his challenging return from Japan last year, his fight to crack this year’s World Cup squad, the Super Rugby rest protocols on elite players, relinquishing the Blues captaincy and their painstaking evolution to title contenders.
Tuipulotu, the softly-spoken 30-year-old, 43-test All-Black, skipped Super Rugby last year to cash in on a one-season stint in the Japanese Top League with Toyota after committing to New Zealand rugby through to 2025.
Returning home, Tuipulotu did not expect such a swift All Blacks recall in July after injury and illness hit the locking stocks prior to the second test defeat to Ireland in Dunedin.
“I was fortunate to get called into that Ireland series but to be honest I was underdone. I played one game of club rugby - the next week I was involved,” Tuipulotu says. “I enjoyed the break in Japan and coming back it was harder to get back up to the international standard of rugby.”
Tuipulotu played two tests off the bench against Ireland and Japan in Tokyo last year. He may have featured more but for a recurring disc bulge in his neck that ruled him out of the South African tour. As it transpired, he made his comeback for Auckland and then captained the All Blacks XV on their two-match northern tour.
His presence in that second-tier team points to the national pecking order as it stands, with Sam Whitelock, Scott Barrett, Brodie Retallick and Tupou Vaa’i holding court as the incumbent All Blacks locks. To force his way into the World Cup squad, the eight-year All Black knows he has ground to make up.
“When you look at the locks going around I think there are only three or four spots in the World Cup and the guys who finished last year are probably penciled in at the moment. I can’t do much apart from play well here. I know if I do that, I’ll put my hand up.
“It’s there in the back of your mind. The Super Rugby campaign has to be the No 1 goal and the World Cup will look after itself with us doing the job here.
“In Japan I was working on my speed around the park, especially on my defence so getting off the line, getting around the corner fast, getting my hands on the ball. I know I’m strong on the ball carry but on the other side I tend to drop off a few tackles so I’m trying to be consistent.”
All Blacks are this year subject to rest protocols that stipulate they cannot play more than five Super Rugby games in succession. Technically, Tuipulotu falls under that bracket but with his World Cup boarding pass on the line, he returned to training in early January and played both preseason fixtures before starting the Blues impressive round one victory against the Highlanders.
“It’s hard when circumstances change during the season and results don’t go our way and we need certain players to play certain games. It is tough like that. I see the underlying reason that we need to stay fresh and look after our welfare.
“In terms of my plan, I don’t know. I just want to keep playing. I find if I don’t play I don’t build that rhythm. If I have a break I’m not very good at coming back. I’d rather stay in there and keep the consistency.
“The physicality and fitness are getting harder each year especially with a lot of young guys who are fitter, faster, stronger so they keep the standard up.”
While he missed last year’s campaign Tuipulotu enters his ninth season with the Blues. Having started in a 2014 team featuring Tony Woodcock, Keven Mealamu, Jerome Kaino, Ma’a Nonu among others, Tuipulotu lived through the dark times; the losses, frustrations, criticism, the series of coaching changes, the slow transformation and is, therefore, well placed to assess the Blues evolution.
“When I first started it was a team full of superstars, legends of the game. Over the years we haven’t had a lot of success. Through that people have tried to change a lot off the field, do extra stuff, when a lot of the time when we have been successful we’re keeping it simple and taking things out, making sure the boys are clear.
“Some key guys in a lot of those coaching and management areas have allowed players to focus on getting better where my first couple of years we were trying to do everything off the field and there was a lot of clutter.
“The young guys who have been on that journey and haven’t had a lot of success they’re older, wiser, and know what it takes to strive at the top.
“It’s not an overnight success. It’s been building for a while. When Leon [MacDonald] took the reins, it was another big step up in terms of how we play.”
Tuipulotu’s role within the Blues altered on return from Japan with Dalton Papalii assuming, and retaining, the captaincy in his absence. With Papalii, Tuipulotu, Beauden Barrett and Rieko Ioane taking charge from a players’ perspective, the Blues leadership team sits in good hands.
“Dalts is doing an awesome job so for him to carry on this year is the best for the team. There’s a lot of leaders – Rieko, Bryce Heem, he’s been around so it’s good to have that experience too.”
On the surface the Blues’ opening 60-20 victory, in which they scored eight tries in Dunedin, laid down an early marker. Yet after missing 21 tackles in the first half the team has swiftly been brought back to earth before facing the Brumbies, Australia’s best prospect, in Melbourne on Sunday.
“The title is the goal. I’m not going to lie, we want to beat the Crusaders. They’ve pipped us every time. Certainly looking forward to playing them at home in round four. Watching the final last year hurt for me so I can imagine what it was like for the guys who were there. Coming into this year that experience will help going into the deeper stages of this season.”
Veteran Sam Cane is given his farewell test appearance.