Waikato pushing it to new level

By CHRIS RATTUE

It's A biting cold night in Hamilton, four days before the NPC final, and the Waikato players have just finished a training run.

Most have headed to the showers or are giving media interviews after the final "open" training of the week.

But Jono Gibbes and Marty Holah are still hard at work. Behind a goal-line at Waikato Stadium, they engage in one of those crazed training dances - working on defensive techniques - that mean everything to coaches and players, and very little to the casual observer.

Gibbes and Holah do this after every training, pushing themselves to push the team. They may be chalk and cheese personalities, but they are longtime mates. They first met in junior football, and since the Waikato under-19s they've been best of friends.

Holah has already made the All Blacks, and the 25-year-old Gibbes is planning to follow.

And who would argue with Gibbes' credentials after another fine season where he dominated in the air like no other loose forward has in the game, and has started to match that on the ground.

Gibbes, with an ever-ready grin, says: "Marty's already gone up to that next level and he's been really good for my game in the past couple of years.

"I'm really rapt for him, for what he's already achieved. He's a shy fella to people who don't know him.

"That makes it really cool how he is contributing to this team now. When he started, he wouldn't say boo to anyone.

"He still doesn't say a lot but when he does, it's very valuable. He's very wise. Me ... I'm never afraid to talk."

Maybe Gibbes needed an extrovert personality to survive as a kid, being the youngest of five brothers. He was an Aucklander for the first 10 months of his life, before a family move to Te Awamutu. Brother Chris has played for Hawkes Bay and was in the Thames Valley squad this year.

Jono mucked around with all sports as a kid. Volleyball, basketball, you name it. He made the 1997/98 New Zealand Colts - captained by Xavier Rush - and after enduring thumb and shoulder injuries, cracked the Waikato side in 2000, playing every game.

It was the arrival of John Mitchell at the Chiefs the following year that raised his own expectations.

"He opened my eyes ... made me realise the little things you do impact on the whole game," says Gibbes.

For example: Gibbes goes into detail about an incident during the Chiefs' loss to the Stormers in Cape Town. He allowed Corne Krige to step him near the Stormers' line, and Breyton Paulse scored after a sweeping move.

"At the next training John said he held me responsible for the try. He said I should have made the tackle five metres from their line.

"At the time I was horrified, but I came to realise how those things influence the big picture. I should have weighed up the options, not rushed in on Krige."

Gibbes was enough of a late rugby bloomer to have done his apprenticeship as a carpenter before professional rugby took over. With two schoolmates he recently bought a house as a live-in, do-up project.

He'd like to swing a hammer again for building brothers Dave and Mike Livingstone - who both played for Waikato teams - as a sort of thank you for all his rugby-injury absences they put up with.

For now though, there is a grand final to prepare for, and just maybe an All Black call-up to contemplate.

As the cold gets colder after the Tuesday training session, Gibbes peels off metres of tape from his legs, rolls them into a ball, and bounces the result around like a kid with a softball.

A month ago, he was given no chance of playing again this year after damaging knee ligaments against Auckland. A miracle recovery got him into the semifinal against Otago. The makeshift ball bouncing in Gibbes' hands is symbol of football injuries.

"I was absolutely gutted when I was helped off [against Auckland]. I didn't want to miss Deon Muir's 100th game. Nobody in this side would want to miss that," he says.

"I used to beat myself up when I got injured. But I've learnt you can't think you're unlucky to get injured playing this game."

The night has got even colder, and Keith Lowen walks by, wondering where Gibbes is.

"Jono likes to talk," says Lowen, smiling.

This Waikato team are a band of brothers - you can see it at training, and more importantly you can see it on the field.

Gibbes says: "We're not about individuals. No one talks about the players leaving, and it's the same with the All Blacks selection question. That's not what we're about.

"We're 28 guys in a squad, with no big egos. Everyone just wants to do their job. We started with a management team that set strong guidelines. It's flowed from there.

"Teams either have that spirit or they don't. I can't really tell you why. You certainly know when it's there, and you know when it's not."