Tipoki determined to stay out of trouble

Bad boy Rua Tipoki has sought professional help to conquer his fiery temper.

The North Harbour skipper, who will return to action next week after a four-month ban, has been working with a sports psychologist to exorcise the mental demons that have blighted his career.

The 30-year-old seriously contemplated giving up the game after he was handed the longest ban in New Zealand rugby history for a malicious hit on Western Force's James Hilgendorf during this year's Super 14.

But Tipoki chose to carry on after the Blues and Harbour persuaded him he remained a vital part of their plans and also after he began working with a psychologist who helped straighten out a few things in his head.

"After I decided I was going to stay on [in rugby], I had to do something to make sure I didn't put myself in that situation again," Tipoki explained. "I talked to a sports psychologist, people who are good at breaking bad habits."

There have been a few bad habits. In 2001, he broke both hands punching an opponent in an unsanctioned game but lied to Blues management, saying it was the result of a freak gym accident. In 2004, he earned a three-match ban for punching Jean de Villiers in Cape Town. And then he was banned for 16 weeks.

But Tipoki is also that player who was being talked about as a possible All Black in 2006, who sparked a brilliant Bay of Plenty season in 2004 and who guided North Harbour into the NPC semifinals in 2005 and earned himself a Super 14 contract in the process.

The boy can play and it was this aspect of Tipoki that the Blues and North Harbour preferred to focus on.

During the darkest times at the start of his 16-week ban, Tipoki just wanted to give up playing rugby so as not to put himself through any more heartache.

It was just not worth it any more, he reasoned. Perhaps the old saying that a leopard can't change its spots was true. Tipoki, though, wasn't prepared for what happened next.

"When you get banned for that long, it feels like the end of the world," he said. "It's devastating. I thought, 'to hell with it'.

"I was thinking about going to [play rugby] league or about the UK or Australia. But it was incredible that people didn't wash their hands of me."

Despite a couple of good offers to play in the UK, he was told by North Harbour and the Blues that he wouldn't be released from his contract. He was wanted and it brought some clarity to a troublesome time.

"People were standing by me so I felt some loyalty to them," he explained.

"They didn't need to show faith in me but they were willing to give me another shot, right from the CEOs of the Blues and North Harbour down to the coaches, David Nucifora, Joe Schmidt and Allan Pollock. Everyone."

Every week for the past 16 weeks, Tipoki's been able to glance up at the whiteboard at North Harbour HQ to see how long was left on his suspension. That number now reads one. "It's felt like a lifetime," he offered, "but as it turned out I didn't miss that much representative rugby.

"I missed a couple of Blues games but what really hurt was missing the Maori tour because I really wanted to go on that. I haven't got a Maori jersey left because I have given them all away to my family. I was banking on another one this year... and then I got suspended."

As Tipoki contemplates a return to competitive rugby, he knows there will be doubters out there. There will be those who don't think he deserves another chance but there is a determination within Tipoki that he won't step out of line or appear before a judiciary again.

Of course, there's a difference between saying this and doing it.

"I don't want to have anything to do with them [the judiciary] again," he said emphatically.

"I don't want to go out and prove I'm not that player people might think I am. I need to prove it for myself."

When Harbour take to the field against Bay of Plenty next Saturday night, it will be something to savour for Rua Tipoki. Just how many times he does it again in the future is entirely up to him.