Kirke returns to green grass of home

By CHRIS RATTUE

There's not much work, of the nine-to-five variety, on Richard Kirke's CV.

He's had plenty of daily grind though, English club rugby style, as well as some glamour assignments, including time in an England autumn training squad, plus their A team.

Kirke's career with London Irish ended in February when he needed a shoulder operation after a collision with London Wasps' Samoan hooker, Trevor Leota, and decided it was time to come home.

Now, at 32, Kirke has burst into the Auckland NPC squad after half a dozen games for Ponsonby, where he plays alongside brother Matt. Kirke will compete for starts against Blues hooker Derren Witcombe, with Keven Mealamu on test duty.

The Hamilton-born Kirke played 30 Waikato games in the early 1990s and a couple for the Crusaders. But much of his Mooloo career involved warming the bench for Warren Gatland, and Kirke then found Greg Smith in his way. So he headed to Bedford, north of London.

Kirke's Bedford career ended when, after a credit-card holiday, the bank returned his monthly pay cheque from the financially troubled club. So he joined London Irish.

Under player/coach Brendan Venter, a former Springboks centre, the club's 35-man squad included 14 South Africans and just four Irishmen by the time Kirke and his wife, Ingrid, headed home this year.

In five years with the "Exiles", Kirke played 125 games, including 37 in his only injury-free season.

"Too many games ... you lose sharpness," says Kirke, who holds a science degree and works for an Auckland IT recruitment company, his first non-rugby job in six years.

"A nine-month season takes its toll. I never had serious injuries until I went there, but I kept getting put out for two or three months."

London Irish are among 12 premiership clubs with full time squads under a £1.8 million ($4.4 million) salary cap.

They won the English knockout cup last season - the club's first major trophy - upsetting Wayne Smith's Northampton at Twickenham before a 70,000 crowd. It is the highlight of Kirke's career.

But Kirke also flirted with a full England call-up, being named in a 26-man squad preparing to play Australia in 2000.

"I didn't hold out real hope. I wasn't good enough. They always let you know the pecking order."

Still, he got a close look at the England camp under Clive Woodward, who he believes is the role model for All Blacks boss John Mitchell, a former Woodward assistant.

Kirke says the rich English set-up is "phenomenal", from six new junior academies to the massive performance-loaded wages for internationals.

"Clive Woodward does coach but he has a lot of specialists. They seem to be autonomous, under a common vision he lays out," said Kirke.

"They use width. They always station a player on each touchline to create space.

"It forces defenders a couple of yards wider. They work on ball retention, bashing it up, happy to work for penalties.

"They batter sides into submission.

"The first try against Australia showed how they turn it into a battle of attrition. If defences move in, Jonny Wilkinson will kick to the touchline player."

Kirke said a variety of defensive ploys were orchestrated by former British league coach Phil Larder.

"My early impression is they spend more time on defence than here. They don't have the talent of New Zealand backs. We have a genetic advantage, the Maori and Pacific Island players who are more explosive."