Rugby: Miller zeal typifies tight grip on shield

By Wynne Gray

There is another rugby Miller, not the shaven-headed Southlander who resembles the orderly in the television series Night Court. Remember Todd Miller, the Waikato fullback and All Black back in 1997.

The (unrelated) pair did not meet in last week's NPC action as the fullback does not play sport on Sundays, a spinoff of his Mormon upbringing. But it did not stop the chunky fullback watching the match on television and being very impressed by the southern No 8.

And also lauding his Waikato team-mates for their hang tough attitude against a strong Southland side.

"That was the sort of game we may have lost last year but we hung in there and were very determined. And while we did not, or were not allowed to, play up to our best, we got the victory," he said.

It is the sort of dedication Miller and his mates will need today, certainly in the early exchanges, if they are to repel the latest Ranfurly Shield challenge from Wellington.

Miller has brought that sort of zeal to his NPC work again with his trademark solid defence and darting runs from the back. But it has all been a bit too late for any great personal reward after injuries wrecked his Super 12 season and eliminated him from any All Black contention. There was a popped rib cartilage and then an ankle injury which turned out to be a bruised bone and six weeks out of play.

The best Miller could do was get back for the recent NZ Maori tour to Fiji.

"It would have been great to have had a full year and another go at the All Blacks but you have got to be playing footy," Miller said. "I could not deliver and that is just the way it goes but I definitely would love to repeat sometime."

It is a familiar line from Miller whose injury list has been extensive since he returned from missionary duty in 1995 and '96. None of the bikeriding with the Bible during that tour helped his hamstrings, they kept pinging on a regular basis and then there were cuts, shoulders, ankles, ribs and so on.

But he is hanging together in the NPC and so are Waikato as they fight with Auckland, Canterbury and Otago for the top four spots and home semifinal advantage.

Miller reckons he has gone about 10 games in a row now without some serious wounds. That includes club rugby, NPC and a trip for a game in Japan where he took his camera as the only match was on a Sunday.

Married for a couple of years now, Miller is combining his busy rugby schedule with a university career where his B.Ed is in its death throes. He hopes he will need just one paper to finish next year and enthuses about his full life.

At the start of each year he examines his rugby programme and then picks his university studies to dovetail, a scheme which suits Miller and his wife Suzanne who works on campus with the extra bonus of a carpass.

Just to make sure any spare time is filled in, Miller was accepted as one of the seven directors on the board of the newly established Players' Association. When it was suggested each Super 12 franchise have a representative Miller felt the heat from his team-mates to volunteer.

"It will all be a learning curve and I don't think anyone else from our team wanted to do it," he said. "I don't know what it will involve but I thought I could bring the perspective of being a professional and also recalling my amateur days."

He laughed at any ideas he had been a strong union man. The only red he knows has been his blood and that colour in the Waikato jersey - the spirit he and his mates will need today at Rugby Park in Hamilton.