Rugby: Waldrom holds on to All Black aspirations

Scott Waldrom admits his game bears little resemblance to what we expect from a traditional blindside flanker. Photo / Getty Images

He's already looking like one of the more canny acquisitions of the year, but Scott Waldrom's ambitions do not start and finish with the Chiefs and whatever success they might enjoy.

The 30-year-old flanker has one All Black appearance to his name, a midweek match against Munster on the 2008 end-of-year tour, but has not given up on earning a test cap.

"I've still got the dream of wearing the black jersey," he said on the eve of the Chiefs' SH1 derby against the Blues.

"There's no reason I can't get there. That's the ultimate goal, but all I'm concentrating on at the moment is securing my place in this Chiefs team and keep building so that, by the end of the competition, I'm playing my best rugby."

Thirty is one of those numbers that starts to scare selectors but Waldrom argues that rather than being at a stage where his body is starting to protest, he has got a new lease of life for the game.

"I've basically had a two-year rest," he said of the injuries that have blighted his 2009 and 2010 campaigns. "The body feels great."

Another number we should not read too much into, he says, is the one on his back.

Waldrom will continue to don the No 6 jersey for his third franchise - he made his Super rugby debut for the Crusaders in 2004 before linking with his "home" franchise, the Hurricanes, the next year - but he admits his game bears little resemblance to what we expect from a traditional New Zealand blindside flanker.

"I'm still pretty much playing my openside role. I guess it's almost like the South African style where their No 6 plays like an openside and their No 7s tend to be bigger ball-carrying forwards."

Coach Ian Foster believes Waldrom and Tanerau Latimer, wearing seven, have complementary skill sets, with Liam Messam's ball-winning and ball-carrying talents providing the glue at No 8.

Waldrom admits it took a couple of games to click and said they were taught a lesson in "committing to rucks out wide" by Adam Thomson when the Highlanders beat them in round two. Since then things have worked a lot better, though the team as a whole could be accused of not doing enough at the breakdown against the Hurricanes.

"The backs have to clean out rucks as much as the loosies these days," Waldrom said.

The Taranaki loosie was one of the standouts of the backs-to-the-wall win against the Sharks last week and said he was happy with his form even if he thinks he won't be peaking until somewhere near the pointy end of the tournament. If that's true, he might just force his way into World Cup reckoning, which could throw up an intriguing face-off with little bro Thomas.

The Leicester No 8 this week discovered that by having a maternal grandmother born in England, he automatically qualifies to represent the Red Rose.

"It would be a great honour to put the shirt on," Thomas said. "It would be a privilege to play against the All Blacks if the chance came along, and would be a chance for me to show them just how good I am."

Big brother would love the chance to show the All Blacks just how good he is too, but while wearing black, not white.