All Blacks train Aussie Rules style
Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:23
Ma'a Nonu training in the wilderness. (c) Gallo
The Aussie Rules capital, Melbourne, offers its challenges to the All Blacks who have gone 'old school' and are wearing studs and painting their own lines.
The lack of rugby facilities in the traditional home of Aussie Rules became apparent when the All Blacks had to mark out their own rugby field, without goalposts, on the Aussie Rules oval where they were training on Monday.
To their credit the New Zealanders appear to have seen the funny side of the situation and made do with what was on offer.
"We are just grassroots rugby players from simple backgrounds. We can handle it," All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith quipped when he spoke to NZPA.
"It was a great pitch we trained on. So there was nothing wrong there - we marked it out like a rugby field. It's a pretty good surface."
The surface at Etihad, the venue for Saturday's Tri-Nations Test, is of some concern with a number of AFL players suffering hamstring and ligament injuries while running on the turf.
The regularity of player injuries forced AFL club, the Western Bulldogs, to lay a complaint last month after one of their players injured his ankle, when the surface gave way as he attempted a kick.
The all Blacks are aware of the reputation of the surface and will opt to wear 'old school' studs rather than the more modern blades or cleats on Saturday.
"We'll probably wear studs instead of blades. We've heard the blade chops the surface up a wee bit because they have such good traction and it [the ground] gives way," Smith said.
"The studs seem to slide through a bit better."
AFL kicking coach Mick Byrne has also been brought in by the All Blacks to offer some advice about the ground to the kickers.
The All Blacks have also abandoned their captain's run at the ground on Friday, as the field will host an AFL match that evening.
"We will make an appearance there," Smith said. "The captain's run doesn't really matter where you train. We were going to have the captain's run at a different venue and just have a walkover [at Etihad]. The goal-kickers are going there for a bit of a kick."
Dan Carter and the other Kiwi goal-kickers will have to take aim at the unconventional four Aussie Rules posts during their practice session.
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