Rugby: Big ambition in long run

Craig Clarke takes pride in being able to play week after week and stringing together an impressive unbroken sequence. Photo / Christine Cornege

Cal Ripken Jnr he is not, but Chiefs lock Craig Clarke has an impressive little "Iron Man" statistic of his own.

Clarke has appeared in more Super 14 games than any New Zealander in the past two seasons, notching all 14 for the Hurricanes in 2008 and bettering that by one last year, his first season of what he hopes will be many for the Chiefs. Add to that the fact he has played every game for Taranaki over the past two Air New Zealand Cups.

He will have to play close to another 90 seasons to match Ripken Jnr's record of 2632 straight games for the Baltimore Orioles, so instead Clarke will focus on more pragmatic goals, like starting every game for the Chiefs in a 2010 campaign they hope will be one place better than '09.

Clarke, 26, said he had a feeling he was starting to string an impressive unbroken sequence together and it was something he took pride in.

"To be able to play a lot of rugby, week in week out, my system must be pretty reasonable to still be out running around, giving it everything. You don't get these chances if you're playing poorly, particularly at Super 14, so I'm obviously doing something right," Clarke said.

You can't legislate for injuries, a lot of the time it comes down to pure luck (as his lineout coach Keith Robinson would testify), but as his head coach Ian Foster said: "The people that are prepared best tend to have most of the good luck.

"He's very good off the park. He does his work. He had an ankle injury at the end of the Air New Zealand Cup and was not doing much running with us in December. He actually pulled out of a session in early January and told me it was the first training he'd pulled out of in three years."

Clarke's nomadic Super rugby existence might be a by-product of professional sport, but after last year's campaign he realised he had found a home and he pressed to return as a loan-back player.

"Last year's success had a lot to do with that," Clarke said. "As did the game time."

Clarke had started most of his matches for the Hurricanes off the bench and found it a frustrating existence.

"Getting good game time, getting starts, changes your perspective on rugby," he said.

And he found the Chiefs setup to be a good environment. "The make-up of the team, the organisation, the attitude of the boys: it was just a really good environment to be part of.

"The way the All Blacks come back in and gel with the rest straight away, there's no egos and everyone remains down to earth. Put it this way, when I knew they wanted me back, it was an easy decision."

What has proved a tougher decision is whether to modify his game to get himself more in line with what he believes the All Black selectors want from him. When he asked for some feedback as to what he needed to push himself to higher honours, he was told that he needed to place more emphasis on handling skills.

"Let's be honest, I want to be an All Black, just like many Super 14 players. Performing well for the Chiefs is an important step in that process.

"But it can be quite tough because this environment is a little different than what it might be elsewhere. We have good ball-playing loose forwards, who are good carriers, so my role here is more of a tight one, cleaning out at the breakdown principally.

"I'd love to get my hands on the ball a bit more, but that is not necessarily going to help our gameplan."

Foster, though, can put his mind at ease.

"He's going to get the opportunity to do that sort of skill stuff during a game," the coach said. "That happens naturally.

"They've [the All Black selectors] got some things they want him to work on, but the most important point is he becomes great at what he's already good at. His numbers are incredibly high, his set-piece is getting better and better. Ultimately, if he keeps working and becomes great at something, then he puts a lot of pressure on those people to pick him.

"Last year there was a definite move at All Black level to pick a lot of ball-playing locks, but I think they probably moved away from that strategy by the end of the [November] tour.

"The acid's on Clarkey to get better in those areas, but he can't forget what he's already good at."

One of those things is the mere fact he gets on the pitch, game after game after game.