Rugby: Younger Braid steps into brother's boots

Luke Braid's qualities will come under a stern examination down south. Photo / Getty Images

The bloodlines are good, the pedigree strong and the performance graph encouraging.

No surprise really, not when your surname is Braid and your old man and older brother are All Blacks.

The man wearing the No 7 jersey for the Blues tonight at Carisbrook is Luke Braid, the 22-year-old openside flanker who has been doing the work for injured brother Daniel.

This will be younger brother's seventh start in his debut season for the Blues after switching from an inaugural Super rugby year with the Chiefs.

Up against Alando Soakai and his Highlanders cronies, this will be an even sterner examination of Braid's qualities.

He has all the basics, a strong frame, plenty of ticker and a good mind. But Braid is still coming to grips with some of the different positional intricacies required by his new team, he is learning the nuances of others round him.

He is on the rise, into his fifth year of top rugby at national age-group, provincial and Super rugby levels, but the L-plates are still on.

Braid is taller, not as stocky and less of a traditional forager than his elder All Black brother. He is a flanker who mixes his work at the breakdown with other linking and defensive plays.

He crowned the Blues win against the Rebels last week with his first try for his new team but, like his teammates, was a little untidy in some aspects of his play.

Some of that can be put down to inexperience, and learning to trust Blues teammates alongside him and concentrating on his required duties.

"Obviously this situation is not too good for my brother but I am relishing having a decent go at the job while he is out," Braid said.

There was some natural sibling rivalry, but the younger Braid acknowledged he was making much greater advances because of his brother's input.

Braid had the chance to stay with the Chiefs but chose to switch to the Blues this season to work alongside and learn from his brother.

"I also wanted to be in a winning environment, my family is here too, so I weighed it up and got the best of both worlds going between the Bay and the Blues."

Braid will return to the Bay of Plenty for the ITM Cup, he has plenty of friends there and a loyalty to the area.

Luke is the younger son of Gary Braid who started as a flanker but locked the All Black scrum in a couple of tests back in 1983.

He had an extensive career with the Bay then a short stint with Harbour in 1986 and now works in Auckland where he is able to keep a close eye on his sons' rugby progress.

Luke got his first start against the Lions this year and admitted that was a bit of a shock to his system. But several games in, he started to get the feel for the Blues tempo.

He's competed against the Hurricanes and Chiefs but considers the Highlanders to be at another level.

"The have obviously done heaps and heaps of work around the breakdown," he said. "Just their numbers and the space they are working in, they all know what they are doing.

"We have not done as much but if we get over the game line and support our ball carriers, then it becomes hard to steal the ball going backwards. It is up to us really."

Braid admires the Highlanders teamwork and their collective grunt. They have nailed that side of their game while the Blues have yet to glue a complete team performance together.

His job description tonight?

It is about working his backside off even more, being more accurate and more constructive. He will look for turnovers but also try and take the space over the ball for his teammates.

"The Highlanders show their passion and drive, they have a great team pattern and we have lots of respect for that. We also know how well we can play and we just have to put it together."