Tiaan Falcon of Toyota Verblitz Kicks a goal during the Top League match between MHI Sagamihara Dynaboars and Toyota Berblitz. Photo / Getty Images.
Last year Tiaan Falcon left a Super Rugby contract with the Chiefs to play in Japan. Aiden McLaughlin reports on what life now looks like for the 22-year-old Kiwi.
It's a Thursday morning in the middle of April and Tiaan Falcon has beaten me onto the Zoom Call that I organised a few days before.
Thankfully I'm not late, but he's early. He's speaking to me from his apartment during a day off from training. The city of Nagakute in Aichi Prefecture, Japan is home at the moment for the former Hawke's Bay Magpies, Chiefs and New Zealand under 20 first five.
He's nearing the end of his first season at Japanese Top League side Toyota Verblitz, having joined them in late 2020 following three years with the Chiefs in Super Rugby.
There have been seven pool matches in this year's Top League season, and this weekend Verblitz beat Hino Red Dolphins (whose squad contains former Blues halfback Augustine Pulu and Falcon's former Hawke's Bay teammate and New Zealand sevens representative Gillies Kaka) in the last 16 of the competition. It means there's a bye week, followed by a quarter final, and potential semi and final on three consecutive weekends to end the season.
Like most of his squad, Falcon lives alone.
There are exceptions; former Chiefs teammate Michael Allardice, also in his first season at Verblitz, has his family with him in Japan. But outside of training, there isn't much mixing between friends and colleagues outside of time on the golf course. Falcon lives close to Allardice and picks him up on the way to training, but apart from that, there isn't the level of interaction that people might expect - that's a reflection of Covid restrictions in a country that had a notable infection spike at the turn of the year and is currently seeing another consistent increase in daily cases.
For Falcon, it's not the picture he envisaged when he started discussions to join the Top League side in early 2020. A first XV star for Lindisfarne College in Hastings, Falcon made his debut for Hawke's Bay in 2016 aged 19, primarily at second five outside Ihaia West during their NPC campaign, before representing the New Zealand Under 20's at their 2017 World Cup in Georgia.
In a squad containing the likes of Luke Jacobson, Dalton Papalii and Will Jordan, Falcon
was a key part of their campaign playing at first five. He, along with Jordan, made the shortlist of five for player of the tournament. Unfortunately, a concussion sustained in the semi-final ruled him out of the showpiece against England.
By this time, he had already signed with the Chiefs for their 2018 Super Rugby campaign. Their second match that season brought them to Auckland to face the Blues. During the warm-up at Eden Park, Shaun Stevenson suffered an injury, which meant a re-jig, with Damian McKenzie shifting to fullback and Falcon (having had the tap on the shoulder from head coach Colin Cooper just 25 mins before kick-off) stepping in to steer the ship in the pivot role at 10.
Unfortunately, that night was one of very few highlights during the next three seasons in Hamilton. Injury after injury followed in 2018, meaning a total of six months on the sideline.
The most devastating blow was yet to come, with a ruptured achilles tendon suffered in preseason for 2019 Super Rugby. With that Chiefs season a write off, Verblitz made their first approach, with the offer of much desired gametime in their 2020 season.
Falcon declined, instead electing to remain with the Chiefs for 2020, under their new head coach Warren Gatland. Their first five stock for the year included the returning Aaron Cruden, Bay of Plenty's Kaleb Trask and McKenzie, and amongst such stiff competition Falcon only managed 15 minutes of gametime off the bench in mid-February. Sensing that the door was ajar, Verblitz approached Falcon again soon after through their Director of Rugby, Sir Steve Hansen. Falcon decided to give it a go.
"After all that frustration of those three years, I thought it made sense to come over here and refresh," Falcon said. "I was getting a bit stale just training. I heard the rugby at Toyota was really fast and had a good flow to it. We've got a lot of foreign coaches here and I knew that Michael Allardice was coming and Kieran Read and Willie Le Roux who could help me get better."
At the age of 22, Falcon signed a two season deal covering 2021 and 2022. It's a departure from the more obvious Japanese rugby experience where overseas players come over when they are established, as part of a career sabbatical (like Beauden
Barrett or Brodie Retallick) or to close out their career (such as Falcon's teammate at Verblitz, Kieran Read).
"Coming over here early you kind of cash that experience being a younger guy. I feel like I've grown a lot in the last few months. Living by myself in a foreign country, all those things you can't really do in New Zealand. I think that experience can only make me better going forward. All those little things as well, the team dynamic here is so different. You don't really realise until you leave New Zealand rugby all the little connections you have."
Rugby wise, his game management has grown. Because of the language challenge, preparation during the week is even more important than usual. Key words to get his message across are essential and he has to have a loud voice to make sure everything is clear during a game situation.
At the club, there are three translators with the team. If a coach or player speaks, there's a translation straightaway. Some players, such as fullback Jamie Henry, can speak English and Japanese, which also helps. It is inevitable however that the banter and casual conversations which are second nature in New Zealand, are naturally more difficult.
Falcon's main competition for a start comes from South African first five Lionel Cronje. The former Sharks, Bulls and Brumbies No 10 is approaching his 33rd birthday and has had the nod for most of the season. Falcon has played in two of the seven Top League games so far, with his most impressive outing against Munakata Sanix Blues in the middle of March. In just over an hour, Falcon scored two tries and seven conversions in an eventual 61-29 victory. But with only seven foreign players able to be named in a matchday squad, and only six of those allowed on the field at any one time, it's been difficult to hold down that starting place.
Frustrating though that might be for Falcon, it's the reality of a squad where the quality of Kieran Read, Michael Hooper, Le Roux and others is so important. On the plus side,
the experience of being in a squad with such successful players has been invaluable. Add in head coach Simon Cron and Hansen from afar, it's a season that has seen learning opportunities aplenty.
Regardless of when Verblitz's season ends, he has a flight back to New Zealand booked for 12th June, along with a two week stay in managed isolation.
He'll be in New Zealand until September, when he'll head back to Japan, where preseason games will start at the end of October.
In New Zealand, he plans to keep fit with Hawke's Bay at their Napier headquarters.
Regarding the future, all options remain open. Any potential contract extension with Verblitz is yet to be discussed, with such discussions in Japan generally commencing later on than in other countries.
"I'm not too sure what I'm going to do afterwards. I'm quite open minded whether to stay here or potentially come back to New Zealand. I'll be 24 next year, so still young enough to see how things go."
Rugby World Cup years usually see an exodus of players from New Zealand as they move to Europe and Japan, which could open the door to a 2023 return to NZ with a Super Rugby side. Where so often players head overseas and are barely heard from again, it could well be that Tiaan Falcon is an exception to that rule. Japan could be the making of him.
Veteran Sam Cane is given his farewell test appearance.