Thames Valley take a shot at glory

Thames Valley first five-eighths Scotty McKay passes the ball during training this week. Pictures / Amos Chapple

Third division NPC rugby makes its farewell this season and for a team like Thames Valley, it represents a golden chance for a shot at glory.

The all-new "amateur" second division will be upon us next season, sitting below the premier grade where some of Thames Valley's old second-division comrades like Hawkes Bay will try to foot it with the big guns.

The premier division is on another planet for a province like Thames Valley, even though they were good enough to score a come-from-behind win over Hawkes Bay in Napier as recently as the late 1990s.

So while Hawkes Bay contemplate future clashes at the country's major grounds, Thames Valley are left with more moderate aspirations.

The Swamp Foxes headed to Ashburton yesterday for this afternoon's opening assignment against Mid Canterbury, hoping to put their miserable 2004 season in the second division behind them.

They know little about Mid Canterbury's strength, and are apprehensive after four months of squad preparation. Their aim: to win the third division for a fourth and final time and leave themselves in decent shape for the brave new world.

"The time for talking is over," coach Richard Taylor told the team as they stretched following a training session on a chilly Thames night. Thames Valley are the classic New Zealand rugby minnows. They sit in the shadow of some mighty provinces, and are a sort of feeder club for Waikato.

Rugby thrives in its own way here - partly because there is no real competition from other winter codes. Indeed, after lean times the union made a $135,000 profit last year. Yet Thames Valley is hardly a speck in the rugby ocean, the greatest recent triumph being the production of All Black forwards Carl Hoeft and Keith Robinson, although, of course, they had to make their way into the headlines elsewhere.

If anyone among the current Thames Valley side knows the rugby history of the province it is Karl "George" Davis, whose father Mike played for and coached the Swamp Foxes. Indeed, Mike Davis - who like his son is also known by his middle name of George - was in the Counties Manukau-Thames Valley combination against the great 1971 Lions.

Thames Valley have often been healthy mid-table dwellers in the second division. Two years ago, they made a concerted push for the semifinals but suffered heartbreaking losses and missed out. It was the last hurrah for a number of players, who retired.

Davis, who made his Thames Valley debut with Robinson in the same 1998 game, reveals the pain of the winless 2004 season.

"It was a bit humbling and you lose confidence," he says. "We played the three toughest games first - the optimism gets beaten out of you pretty quickly. You find people get sick or there are more injuries when you are losing. When you are winning, no one is injured.

"We'd enjoyed some good times the year before and we thought it would just happen again. But we'd been left behind."

So just how much success can a team like Thames Valley expect to enjoy on its own resources? Some promising players are lured to the Waikato club competition or leave the area anyway, never to return. This can be balanced by using loan players, although the over-use of this backfired a decade or so ago.

A host of players were brought in and even though a number were ex-Thames Valley men, it split the team from the community. As Davis explains it, when the team lost, the imports copped the blame. Under present rules, Thames Valley can have six loan players. Three are filled by players now playing in the area but yet to be transferred, including former Auckland hooker Brad Morris. There are two bona fide imports: fullback Rhys Bennett and prop Roger Fua'aletoelau from North Harbour club sides.

But loan players will be banned under the new "amateur" second division system. This has led to protests from provinces like Thames Valley, who are otherwise delighted with the new format.

North Otago organised a meeting in July of the provinces who will make up the new second division. Not all the minnows are unhappy and East Coast and West Coast did not attend. But representations are to be made to the New Zealand Rugby Union asking for the rule to be reconsidered.

"I wouldn't say it is a burning issue but it is a niggle that needs to be sorted out," says Thames Valley chief executive Murray Earl.

Aucklander Earl - who commutes to his rugby job each week - is used to surviving in the hurly-burly world of struggling sports. The former television sponsorship and advertising man has been the chief executive of both the Avondale and Counties Manukau racing clubs. His vision for Thames Valley is clear in a new environment where promotion and relegation will no longer be an issue.

Firstly, promote the game and build up numbers. And secondly, Earl is more than happy to bring in a core of loan players - if the rule is changed - to bolster the provincial side and bring knowledge into the local game.

He is also more than happy if those players use Thames Valley as a stepping stone - or even a retirement home - and are simply one-season wonders.

Players like former All Blacks Eroni Clarke and Rhys Duggan had been touted as possible recruits this season.

For now, though, third-division glory is the name of the game. Two former players will guide the Swamp Foxes this year: Taylor - who was also head coach last season - and Pene Reuben. Both played in one of Thames Valley's most famous games, when as a third-division side they beat first division Counties Manukau pre-season at Ngatea in 1988. Centre Taylor, one of the most capped Valley players, scored a scorching 50-metre try to help seal a win which helped launch the career of their coach Ross Cooper. Reuben, who was a lock, is the hands-on coach this year, with Taylor providing the overview.

The representative side trains just twice a week. The coaches grab any chance to fit in extra work, which means the team trained in Ashburton yesterday. Taylor, who owns a catering business, is paid about $20,000 for seven months of coaching.

Almost all the current squad have outside jobs - greenkeeper, salesman, landscaper, university student, cabinet maker, butcher, electrician, teacher, builder and so on. When 12 players identified as having major Thames Valley futures were offered three-month weightlifting programmes, three were unable to do so. Such is life in the lower divisions.

Thanks to a New Zealand Rugby Union handout, the players get about $100 a game.

Thames Valley are unusual in that they have three bases, with Te Aroha, Paeroa and Thames all hosting games this year. Visiting teams have even lodged complaints over the mud at the Paeroa ground, and the window-less and cramped changing rooms at Thames. So in many ways, little has changed over the years.

Little wonder then, that, according to Taylor, the Thames Valley players were "over-awed" when they were given a tour of Eden Park before last week's confidence-boosting victory over an Auckland selection.

And it's not just the Thames Valley facilities that reek of yesteryear. Taylor reveals that tomorrow's early-morning post-game run in Ashburton will aim to "burn the alcohol out of their system". Taylor says the major change from his early playing days is that the 10-day tours to other provinces - which helped build team spirit - are gone.

Even the quick-hit assignments of today's NPC cause the odd problem.

Management sought assurances from the players that work and home life would not affect their availability.

Yet just this week, Fua'aletoelau rang Taylor to say he couldn't play in the opener because of his sister's wedding.

"I said if you can't be there I'm going to have to cut you for the season," says Taylor. "Stuff like that can spread like a disease through a team. He said 'give me an hour' and he went away and got a blessing from his sister to play."

And yet there is another side to these sorts of stories. Halfback Danny Morrison will pay some of his airfare to Timaru so he can play against South Canterbury and return on Saturday night to meet a surf lifesaving commitment in September.

And when hooker Graham Clark plays his 10th and blazer match for Thames Valley today, his parents will have made the trip to Ashburton to witness the occasion.

It's a sentiment Karl Davis appreciates.

Davis, a loose forward who has also played wing and prop for his Hauraki North club, says: "My dad is still very proud. I don't see myself ever being an All Black so this is the next best thing. This is my achievement ... and I love it."