All Blacks: Good old days mourned

A familiar sight from the past - flying winger Joe Rokocoko scoring a try. Photo / Mark Mitchell

There is a hint of regret about Joe Rokocoko, as if he's pining for the old days.

It's easy to see why. His form has wobbled this season, his confidence has dropped. In his early 20s, it was common to see him tearing down his wing, those long legs wound to full tilt and defenders hopeless in his wake.

That was Joltin' Joe, the flying All Black every side wished they had but knew they never would.

Those days are but a memory now. They seem an especially long time ago. Joe hasn't been joltin' and the theories abound as to why.

Mostly the focus has fixed on Rokocoko himself. His upper body, which is so obviously bigger than it was five years ago, has been blamed. He's lost his pace, he's lost his agility and worked too hard in the gym is the gist of the established thinking.

There's probably some truth in that but the attention has to be more on the game than the athlete. Rokocoko at 26 is much the same player he was at 20. It's the game of rugby that has changed most dramatically in those six years.

The world remembers the runner; the deadly young man with top-end speed and a swerve. Ball in hand - that was Rokocoko; that was what he built his career on.

It seems an age since we saw Rokocoko in space, at speed. The bulk of his work now is under the high ball and his regret is not so much for his former self but for the way the game used to be.

"I'd be interested to see the stats on how many high balls we catch at training," he says.

"Every training, it's about the high ball because that has been the major change for the back three - it is all about the high ball.

"We do our work-ons after training. Normally that used to be speed and agility and one-on-one stuff, now it's all about catching high balls and counter-attack.

"It has certainly changed. You might get the odd 10 minutes working one-on-one.

"It has always been expected that if you play in the back three, you are going to have to field some kicks. It used to be two or three catches. Now you are getting between six and 10 in a game."

There's more to it than that. It's not just that he has to play as auxiliary fullback. Even the good bits are not as good as they were.

"We don't sprint for as long as we used to at training," he says. "It's a short 20m or 30m sprint now that we practise because the game is so short now.

"The Boks, in particular, close up that space so fast now that everyone is in your face. It's all about working in tight spaces."

That's not really ideal for Rokocoko. Yes, he has the physicality to handle himself. He can blast into people, stay on his feet and put men down in the tackle. But the All Blacks could find 10 wings who could do that.

Rokocoko has so much more to offer but it's not easy. To operate in tight spaces, wings need fast feet. They have to be quick into their running; deadly over the first five metres. At 1.9m, that's a trial for Rokocoko.

"I take a while to wind up," he admits. "The shorter guys are really quick off the mark. In training we try to sharpen up that area because if you come against Bryan Habana he is so sharp into his running.

"At the moment the main thing is trying to be explosive so when the opportunities come along you can take them. We don't try to hit the ball as hard as we can on the outside now. It's all about hitting the ball on the inside - coming off the line and cutting in.

"We work on being able to change our pace and we do a lot of power work in the gym.

"I have spent more time in the gym and I'm different in the legs now than I was when I was younger. We work on our agility so we can beat forwards if we come up against them."

There's no doubt Rokocoko would be happier back in the old world where there was space to attack. But he knows that, for the time being, that world has gone.

If he wants to maintain his All Black career, he has to conform, adapt his skills to suit the modern fixation with kicking.

He's definitely made progress on that front. All that practice at training has paid off - his work under the high ball is vastly improved. Defensively he positions himself well and it's possible, just possible, that all he's missing is a little self-confidence. There is a sense of him being not sure of his role in the modern game.

That could come. Let's hope it does because to believe there is no place for Rokocoko is to admit test rugby has lost its soul.

Josevata Rokocoko
* Age: 26.
* Height: 1.89m.
* Weight: 98kg.
* Position: Wing.
* Tests: 58.
* Rokocoko made his debut in 2003, eight days after his 20th birthday. He scored 17 tries in 12 tests that year, earning a nomination for the IRB's Player of the Year. He now has 44 test tries, equal with Jeff Wilson, and trails only Doug Howlett (49) and Christian Cullen (46).