Lauaki gets fit for Super 12

Sione Lauaki

Expect a leaner, meaner and faster Sione Lauaki when the Chiefs kick off their 2005 Super 12 rugby season on February 25.

Already the big loose forward, who recently transferred to Waikato after being selected for the Chiefs out of the draft last year, is showing the benefits of a strong commitment to a punishing training regime.

Lauaki, 23, was one of the stars of the Chiefs' run through to the Super 12 semifinals earlier this year before missing that playoff match with an infected leg.

He started his debut Super 12 season coming off the bench, then graduated to the starting 15 firstly as blind-side flanker and then No 8, scoring five tries and making a huge impact with his powerful running and tackling.

It propelled him into the Pacific Islanders team and an All Blacks trial.

But things tailed off badly for him back in his home city of Auckland during the NPC as the team faltered and he let his own standards slip, being dropped to the bench and to the province's development side.

His weight ballooned and he looked sadly out of shape compared with the Super 12 version, learning a valuable lesson in the process.

"I can only really point the finger at me. I think the body just got too tired after the Pacific Islanders tour and coming back and going straight into the NPC was a big step without getting time to train aerobically and stuff," the 1.97m Lauaki said.

"I've learnt from it and I'll know what to do next time. It's hard on the body to do the training when you're also playing but in saying that if you want to be somewhere you've got to work hard to get there."

Once the NPC was over Lauaki visited Chiefs coach Ian Foster, headed off on a two-week holiday during which he did plenty of running, and since then has been tearing into his training programme set by Chiefs trainer Nic Gill.

"I've set some goals for myself to achieve before the season kicks off and I'm pretty pleased with the way it's going."

While there are no hard data comparisons yet available to illustrate improvements, other than the fact he is stronger, Gill said Lauaki had already dipped below last season's playing weight of 117kg and they were aiming to get him down to about 114kg which they feel might enable him to also increase his speed.

- NZPA