Piri not content to play bit part

He walked in wearily and headed for one of the few chairs on offer in the room. After what seemed like an age, Piri Weepu slumped in the chair and slowly raised his head in the direction of the first questioner.

He was drained, quite clearly, after making his test debut in the 26-25 win over Wales in Cardiff last November but it was more an emotional fatigue that was affecting the 21-year-old. It was something he had been unprepared for as the emotions swelled up after that pulsating game played in front of more than 70,000 spectators at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

"It was a big thing for me," Weepu said looking back on his debut more than eight months ago. "To be a part of this team and playing in this jersey meant a lot to me."

Weepu headed to South Africa on Friday not much older but a lot wiser. He's still played only one test but is the genuine number two after the departure of Justin Marshall.

The Wellington halfback has big shoes to fill but they're not really Marshall's - that's Byron Kelleher's job. Rather, Weepu finds himself in the same position Kelleher did for six years - trying to dethrone the incumbent.

He might not say it in excitable tones but behind the quiet, almost laconic demeanour is a player not satisfied with being just a back-up. "I know I'm going to have to bide my time because I'm not expecting to be chucked in there from the beginning," he said before the All Blacks headed off to South Africa on Friday. "But I'm not going to sit back and let Byron take it like he owns the spot. It's up to me to push him.

"No one is ever really comfortable about being a number two and I'm going to fight as hard as I can."

Weepu will do well to heed his own words considering Jimmy Cowan, Steve Devine and Kevin Senio are snapping at his own heels to fill a position that now has considerable depth. He has the inside running, for now.

In many respects, the former age-group rugby league representative is something of a Marshall-clone - just less outspoken. He's a rugged player who likes to probe around the fringes, backs himself in a tight situation and doesn't, much to Marshall's chagrin, possess the sharpest pass in world rugby.

Weepu acknowledges passing is not his strongest virtue but, much like Marshall, doesn't think it will hold him back. After all, the game has changed somewhat since the likes of Chris Laidlaw and Dave Loveridge used to clear the ball from the back of the All Black pack faster than a waiter clears a table at a Michelin star restaurant.

"I'm trying to improve and have got feedback from coaches about it," he explained. "But the game is different and it's not just about passing but new skills like cleaning out."

It certainly won't harm his game being immersed in the All Black set-up. Coaches Graham Henry, Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith are building an impressive track record of ironing out a few creases with developing young players - Derren Witcombe, Campbell Johnstone, Conrad Smith and Mose Tuiali'i.

"We need people like Piri coming into the set-up so we can coach them and make sure he realises the potential he's got," backs coach Smith said. "You actually need time with him to do that.

"He's a player we trust who stood up in a tough cauldron last year in Wales. We know that he can play under pressure."

Before that game, Henry and the selectors had few ideas as to how good Weepu really was considering he was picked on the back of one NPC campaign. He had an indifferent Super 12 with the Hurricanes, his first real experience of the competition, but showed he could handle the pressure again when he lined up for the New Zealand Maori against the Lions in their famous 19-13 win.

The Tri Nations, though, looms as something different. "This is going to be a lot tougher than it was on the end-of-year tour," Weepu explained. "We are playing for two trophies, the Tri Nations and the Bledisloe Cup, and this is the series everyone wants to play in."

Perhaps curiously for many people, Weepu is not sure if he will always want to play in that series or any other involving the All Blacks. He comes from a famous Wellington rugby league family - his brother Billy was scouted by the Manly Sea Eagles and his uncle, Earl Va'a, was another Wainuomata product before playing for Samoa at the 2003 Rugby World Cup - and has often talked about playing for the Kiwis.

"It's still there in the back of my mind," Weepu admitted of his league aspirations. "It's not a decision I have to make at the moment because I'm enjoying myself but there may be an opportunity later in my career to play league."

Whether he does that might have a fair bit to do with how he handles being an All Black. Now he knows what to expect, he might not need too many more chairs to slump into.

Piri Awahou Tihou Weepu

Age: 21

Height: 1.78m

Weight: 92kg

Tests: 1 (vs Wales November 20, 2004)

Weepu was once a ballboy for a Wainuiomata rugby league game involving a certain Tana Umaga.

This season he has already made three representative teams in the New Zealand Maori, Junior All Blacks and now the All Blacks.

He made his All Black debut before he first played for the Hurricanes.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY