Valynce Te Whare scores a try for the Dolphins. Photo / Getty Images
Redcliffe Dolphins centre Valynce Te Whare has only played two NRL games but is already a cult hero. Ahead of this afternoon’s clash with the Warriors, Michael Burgess reveals the unlikely rise of the unknown rugby convert.
Even for a Saturday night, it was an unusually big crowd in the Fraser Tech clubrooms in Hamilton.
The club, which celebrates its centenary this year, is steeped in rugby history.
It’s one of the most successful in the Waikato region and has produced a number of All Blacks, including Murray Taylor, Richard Loe, Mark Cooksley, John Mitchell and Jasin Goldsmith.
But this gathering, a month ago, was to watch one of their own make his debut in the NRL.
After only switching codes 18 months earlier, Valynce Te Whare was running out for the Redcliffe Dolphins in Magic Round, in front of a capacity crowd at Suncorp Stadium.
“Everyone was watching on the big screen, with the boys cheering him on,” says former Waikato, Chiefs and Fiji hooker Greg Smith, a long-time Fraser Tech stalwart. “The whole club erupted when he scored his first try. The boys all had him on their TAB bets, backing him to score. Then he scores another one and everyone is going nuts.”
Te Whare, who has already drawn comparisons with a young Mal Meninga, feels like a throwback to the 1980s. The 22-year-old is all raw talent and size and power, while his unlikely rise has captured the imagination.
When he comes off the interchange bench against the Warriors today, it will be just his third NRL appearance, just over a year after playing league for the first time.
“The only thing that was holding Valynce back was himself,” observes Smith. “Athletically and skill-wise, he had what it took. He always had a point of difference. It just took a while to get there.”
Standing on the sideline at St Paul’s Collegiate in Hamilton, Peter O’Sullivan thought he had struck gold. He was making his first scouting trip after being appointed Warriors recruitment manager in May 2018, canvassing young talent in the Waikato region.
The St Paul’s team had several talented players – who would go on to Super Rugby – but O’Sullivan’s head was turned by a destructive presence on the flank.
“He was one of the first players I saw when I moved to New Zealand,” says O’Sullivan. “I was in a bit of awe of him at the time. He was an unbelievable athlete - a beautiful mover with balance, power and speed. But he was pretty entrenched in the rugby system then. So I couldn’t really get a chance to get hold of him.”
At that time Te Whare was in his last year at St Paul’s. He grew up in Otara, attending Tangaroa College. The opportunity to attend the Hamilton school, which comes with annual fees of around $40,000 for boarding students, came by chance.
Smith, who had connections at St Paul’s, heard about a rugby scholarship available for a Year 10 student and he got in touch with then Tangaroa principal Davida Suasua. “I asked her if they had someone who could fit the bill,” recalls Smith. ‘She said ‘Actually yeah, there is this young fella Valynce’. So it started from there.”
Te Whare arrived later that year. It wasn’t an instant adjustment, as he lived with around 90 other boys in a boarding house.
“He was quiet, pretty reserved,” recalls St Paul’s director of rugby Paul Hodder. “He was confident, though didn’t say too much, but he soon become part of the community.”
Te Whare did athletics in summer – and was one of the quickest at the school – then rugby in winter. Before he reached the First XV, Hodder coached him in the Under-16 team.
“You could see he was an athlete,” says Hodder. “The way he used his hips, the pace for a big guy. At times he made the game look easy.”
Te Whare’s First XV teammates at St Paul’s included Fergus Burke (Crusaders and New Zealand Under-20s), Gideon Wrampling (Chiefs) and Liam Allen (ex-Crusaders) and George Dyer (Chiefs).
“He would score an 80-metre try just about every week,” says former First XV coach Daniel Teka. “Sometimes two against the smaller schools. He was miles ahead; bigger, stronger, faster.”
By his last year of school there was interest from the Warriors, along with multiple provincial unions, but Te Whare was always going to opt for Waikato and the Chiefs academy.
He made his NPC debut the following year, while also becoming a popular member of the Fraser Tech senior side.
“He was a hard-working Māori boy,” said Smith, who coached the Tech team alongside Teka. “Humble man, shy, always had a cheeky grin on his face. The highlight reel was pretty amazing, him running 70, 80, 90 metres to score tries, through people and over people.”
Smith fondly recalls a match against Morrinsville.
“He scored three tries in the space of five minutes, running down the sideline, to the extent where he had cramped up and was lying on the ground with both legs in the air, after scoring his third try. Enough was enough.
“He was a schoolboy sprint champion and genuinely quick and explosive. And he is just so big; you have to get everything into a tackle, if you only have part of your body he is going to bounce you off.”
At provincial level, Te Whare made eight appearances across two seasons (2019 and 2020) but wasn’t retained by Waikato. Opinions vary on the reasons.
“Things didn’t quite gel,” says general manager of Newstar Sports Shane Singe, his agent since 2018. “Some of it was around timing, where he was in his life and the other players that were available at the time. It didn’t quite work out.”
Others say there was a lack of personal application, that the focus and maturity around off-field matters wasn’t quite there. It was also a matter of balance, as Te Whare was working long hours at a steel factory job.
“It’s manual labour, early in the morning, it’s hard to keep up with the demands of a high-performance academy,” says Teka.
Te Whare completed another season with Fraser Tech, before a couple of games for King Country in the Heartland Championship. His career appeared to be at a crossroads.
“He was still really serious about playing rugby at a high level, we were talking about Japan, talking about other options,” said Singe.
A few days later Singe was on the phone to O’Sullivan, who informed him the Dolphins were looking for a strong centre.
“I thought of Val instantly but left it a couple of days,” said Singe. “Then I went back to Pete. The deal was done in a week.”
O’Sullivan showed clips to Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett, who was impressed, before a Zoom call was arranged.
“Wayne Bennett is very direct and likes people to be honest and upfront,” says Singe. “That is how it was. Everything that was discussed in that meeting has been done to date. Wayne’s coaching is about empowering people to express themselves.
“That is what was conveyed. Come over here, if you work hard, I’ll give you a chance and then it is up to you to take it.”
Bennett has seen hundreds of young prodigies over a coaching career that spans five decades but was struck by Te Whare.
“It might have been his personality that got me, I don’t know,” reflects Bennett. “I loved his personality, he didn’t blink about coming and trying to make it in rugby league.”
Given O’Sullivan had tracked Te Whare for the Warriors back in 2018, some fans have openly wondered why he didn’t end up at Mt Smart.
O’Sullivan says it was just timing, with Singe only getting in touch a few weeks after he had left the Auckland club in October 2021 to join the Dolphins operation.
“Shane made contact, I remembered him, got him on a Zoom with Wayne,” said O’Sullivan. “I certainly wasn’t holding him back from the Warriors.”
O’Sullivan pointed out he signed four players, including Wayde Egan to a contract extension, in his last week with the Auckland club.
“I wouldn’t do anything untoward by the Warriors,” says O’Sullivan.
And the Warriors had a stock of outside backs, with Euan Aitken, Adam Pompey, Rocco Berry, Viliami Vailea and Marcelo Montoya among the centre options then.
Te Whare arrived in Brisbane in December 2021 with a pair of boots, a backpack and a dream. He lived with a homestay family and was employed as a groundsman at Redcliffe.
After a crash course to learn the 13-a-side game, Te Whare turned out for the Brighton Roosters in the local Brisbane competition, before making his Queensland Cup debut in June. He averaged almost 150 metres across 14 matches and was named centre of the year for the state competition.
But still there was a long way to go. There were doubts he could get through his first NRL preseason – but he did – changing his body shape in the process. He played six more reserve-grade games before that stunning Magic Round debut.
Despite the hype, the Redcliffe hierarchy urge caution. There is a lot of work required on the defensive arts, while the greater physical demands of league will be an ongoing test for the centre/wing, who stands 1.82m and tips the scales at 109kg. He also faces plenty of competition, with Aitken, Brenko Lee and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow among other centre contenders. But there is no doubting his potential.
“There are rough edges but he has got the things you can’t teach - the speed, the size and the ability,” says one Redcliffe insider.
Singe agrees: “He’s a power athlete. You don’t get guys like that very often - big men who can move as quickly as that. The size they are doesn’t lend usually lend themselves to playing in the three-quarters. Val can seriously move quickly from a standing start which makes him a point of difference.”
Bennett is always wary of hype but generous in his assessment.
“He is getting better each week. He will be a regular first-grader in the next 12-18 months, there is no doubt about that. It is just a case of when and how quickly he gets there. The big turning point for him is he is starting to think like an NRL player.”
Former coach Smith has observed Te Whare’s journey with interest.
“He has gone to Australia with a real purpose and clear goals and made things happen,” says Smith. “I don’t know if it was here for him at that stage. People mature at different times. He’s gone with a different mindset and once he got focused on the task ahead it has been the best thing for him.”
Kath Wharton died on Thursday, aged 41.