Gun kicker says he owes it all to old JC

If Hawkes Bay rugby fullback Donovan Nepia has got one request from his team-mates this weekend, it's to score some tries.

Having started the season as the team's fifth-string kicker, Nepia showed nerves of steel last Saturday, slotting five from five, including two from near the sideline, to sneak his team past a spirited North Otago for a 15-11 win in the NPC second division semifinal.

Asked whether he'd rather be kicking the winning goal in the dying seconds of Saturday's final against Nelson Bays or be up 30-0, Nepia said it was no contest.

"I've already said to the boys this week: 'Don't put me in that situation again'.

"Nah, it was awesome on Saturday. It was such a good feeling to walk off after the game because it was the first time I've kicked 100 per cent.

"I was just confident. I don't know why I felt good. I just did and when you get a feeling like that, you just want to have a crack any time.

"It is hard. You've just got to relax and take your mind away. Like I wasn't really picturing the score, I was just going through my tick list which I've learned through old JC - [former Hurricanes Super 12 player] Jarrod Cunningham.

"He gives you a tick list to work from and you just concentrate on relaxing and ticking all those boxes."

Having always possessed a bit of goalkicking talent but not the discipline to work on it, the 26-year-old says working with Cunningham had completely transformed him as a player "big time".

"Kicking for my club [Tamatea] I'd usually get about two out of seven but now it's sweet.

"JC's taught me quite a lot. At the start of the season I never thought I could kick this well but I started getting a lot more confidence and a lot more practice under my belt with JC."

Nepia spends between 1 1/2 and two hours a week practising, with his Wednesday sessions with Cunningham being the most important.

But despite Cunningham's tuition, Nepia says his elevation to No 1 kicking status came by accident.

"It was a bit of a fluke because some of the guys were injured," he said.

"Eddie [Hekenui] was out, Clarkey [Aayden Clarke] was on the bench and Rosie [James Rosenberg] was the kicker who started the match and I just came on and there was no one else to kick."

- NZPA