Super Rugby Pacific: Blues winger Mark Telea’s hard-earned road to prominence

Mark Telea fends off a defender. Photo / Photosport

Some athletes are blessed with natural talent. They stand out above the masses from the outset, skipping through tackles and grades with inherent ease. Others are not so fortunate. They scrap to extract every ounce of ability, and then discover the only way to improve is devoting time to enhance skills and physical assets behind the scenes.

Mark Telea, something of a late blooming attacking weapon, firmly falls in the latter category.

One match into this year’s Super Rugby Pacific season is premature for overarching predictions but Telea’s compelling elusive efforts in the Blues record 60-20 victory against the Highlanders in Dunedin on Saturday night laid down an earlier claim to be New Zealand’s form wing.

Will Jordan’s ongoing injury absence allowed Telea to finish last year as New Zealand’s preferred right wing, having usurped Sevu Reece in the pecking order to start the final two tests against Scotland and England.

Telea seized those chances for the All Blacks, and in a performance against the Highlanders that featured 248 metres, 13 tackle breaks, two try assists, a brace of tries and countless fends, he proved his determination to retain the No 14 jersey.

Not so long ago Telea could not confidently kick off both feet. Now he’s overshadowing illustrious Blues team-mates Beauden Barrett, Caleb Clarke, Rieko Ioane and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.

Telea, the product of a South African father and Samoan mother, emerged through Massey High School. He grew up wanting to emulate great wingers such as Springboks World Cup-winner Bryan Habana and All Blacks Joe Rokocoko, Sitiveni Sivivatu and Jonah Lomu.

Nothing is a given. Telea must maintain his fitness and form while the likes of Shaun Stevenson states his case with the Chiefs, too. Yet the 26-year-old Telea stands on the cusp of etching his name in Ian Foster’s World Cup squad.

Blues assistant coach Daniel Halangahu offered an insight into Telea’s development to underline his hard-earned rise.

“If you went and watched Caleb Clarke or Rieko Ioane when they were running around playing school footy here in Auckland you knew what they were destined for,” Halangahu said as the Blues took time out to play a golf day with alumni on Monday.

“Mark wasn’t one of those. His story is long and it takes a lot of twists and turns. It will be good when he finally tells people that story. He went into Harbour academy back in 2015 and he made mistakes. Mark has made plenty of mistakes but he learns from them and he works hard.

“He wasn’t naturally gifted like some of the other guys. He didn’t grow up playing rugby. He was seen in the schoolyard running away from the teacher - that’s when he was first noticed for his ability to avoid people. He’s carried that on. I can’t speak highly enough of his work ethic.

“He’s learned how to keep working on his game. He’s had great role models but these aren’t things he had as a 15-year-old. These aren’t talents he was given. He’s taken the long road with a lot of things but he’s starting to reap some rewards for that hard work.

“Just because he’s the incumbent All Blacks right wing, that means nothing. He has to go back out and earn the jersey. That was his mindset at the weekend. If he can keep building on that then fingers crossed, he ends up on the plane.”

While Telea is a softly spoken character in public at least, it’s clear the faith the All Blacks instilled in him last November has transformed his belief.

“It builds confidence getting selected for higher honours,” Telea said. “You just want to play at your best. It’s massive for myself, my family, the club, they put a lot of effort into me. For me to get a massive achievement like that you want to take it with two hands and not look back.”

The Blues are, meanwhile, sweating on Akira Ioane’s fitness after he hobbled off with a concerning knee injury 28 minutes into their opening win.

The All Blacks blindside is awaiting scan results but Halangahu indicated he may have suffered a medial ligament issue which, in an early setback to his World Cup ambitions, could sideline him for up to six weeks.

Ioane will certainly miss the Brumbies in Melbourne, where all this week’s fixtures are being staged.

The Brumbies, emerging from their first round victory over the Waratahs in Sydney, should pose a much tougher test than the Highlanders.

The Blues defeated the Brumbies in last year’s nervy semifinal at Eden Park. While the Brumbies have since changed coaches, with favourite son Stephen Larkham returning to assume the reins from Dan McKellar, they again appear the strongest of the five Australian franchises.

“We’re definitely not getting ahead of ourselves. We weren’t happy with plenty of areas. We’re a bit off at the moment,” Halangahu said.

“The players have learned over the years. We’ve been taught lessons. We know complacency is one of the biggest risks and we call it out, we name it. We know that if we get complacent, we start taking shortcuts as most people do when people say you’re doing really well. The challenge for us is to learn in a big win.”