Forget rumours of Paris Hilton's supposed appearance at Taupo's A1GP or Johnny Depp surfing in the far north _ all it took was former Bay of Plenty lock Mark Sorenson to show up at a Chiefs Super 14 warmup game two weeks ago to spark a frenzy of rumours, at least among the Steamers' long-suffering fans.
Text messages, emails and internet chat flew as fans of the feckless Bay rugby team welcomed home their saviour ... or the last lock to wear provincial colours who could catch the ball.
First, confirmation: Sorenson was home. Now, the bad news: He leaves on Monday, returning to Guinness Premiership club Newcastle Falcons, where he's signed for another three years.
Sorenson, 28, was home for a three-week break and a family wedding and headed to Taupo to catch up with his mates in the Chiefs side, slogging through a preseason game against the Hurricanes in 30C heat.
"I wasn't too envious of them out there, at least not in that heat," laughed Sorenson who, when he left Newcastle, wasrugged up to ward off temperatures in the north-east hovering around 5-6C.
Sorenson has been revelling in New Zealand's endless summer, heading up the Coromandel Peninsula to surf and fish and to Gisborne for more time on the surfboard. Sorenson and his wife Sarah are settled in Tyneside, although being surrounded by Kiwis and Aussies provides a welcome touch of the Antipodes during rare bouts of homesickness.
Former All Black prop Joe McDonnell and his partner live in the same complex as the Sorensons, Carl Hayman and his fiancee are now well settled nearby and former North Harbour flanker Brent Wilson is also at the club. Sorenson has become good mates with ex-Wallaby fullback Matt Burke, who is rehabilitating an injured knee back in Sydney.
"Joe's always up for a meal, or we're down there because he loves to show off his cooking prowess, and Carl, obviously, has made a huge impression since his arrival after the World Cup."
"Having a few Kiwis and Aussies definitely makes it easier for the foreigners and Carl's an absolute Southern man off the field _ he loves a beer and his hunting and fishing."
Sorenson and Hayman are getting wetsuits custom-made for their ample frames in anticipation of hitting the North Sea swells, with Sorenson needing a kick-along with the water temperatures near zero.
Although the Falcons' big games in the Premiership and European Challenge Cup attract crowds of up to 10,000, Newcastle is unmistakably a football city, despite the Kevin Keegan-led Magpies' spiral into the relegation zone.
"It's a footballing town through-and-through. The Geordies are passionate about their team and how they're doing, although we maintain a real loyal following too in the city," Sorenson said.
Until recently, the Falcons used Newcastle United's all-weather training pitch _ a full sized ground housed in a 120m-long marquee.
"But our (Falcons) owners bought a soccer club down the road and, because we train for such a large part of the season in dodgy conditions, have converted the ground into a third generation pitch, complete with 4cm-long artificial grass filled out with rubber beads. It's state-of-the-art and adds quality to our sessions."
Falcons forwards coach Peter Walton, the former Scotland international flanker, said Sorenson was now one of the most important cogs in the side's increasingly international wheel.
"[Funnily] we actually spotted Mark almost by mistake. We'd been looking at signing a player from another [New Zealand] province and the game we were watching him in was against Bay of Plenty," he said.
"Mark played him off the park during the match, really stood out as a hard worker and we decided instead to watch him closely in his next three or four games. The more we saw the more we liked him."
Sorenson leads the premiership in minutes played and is in the top three across all 12 teams for lineouts won and lineout steals, with Newcastle hovering in ninth place on the points table.
Far from being a retirement village for washed-up internationals, Sorenson has found the pace and skill level to be of a decent standard.
"When we play a good game the pace is every bit as good as a top NPC match back here.
"It's often a battle against officialdom, with the standard of refereeing fairly inconsistent, and because most of our opposition teams have huge depth, there aren't any games you'd target as being easy."
Incredibly, Newcastle's 22-19 win over Glen Jackson's Saracens in London on December 30 was their first away victory in the premiership in 13 months and the first Sorenson had tasted since he arrived.
"It's strange but away wins are difficult to come by, although on the flip side our home ground [Kingston Park] is a fortress and we rarely lose there." Sorenson catches up with Jackson as often as possible _ the pair were great mates at the Steamers _ and looks forward to going at it whenever their sides meet.
"Jacko came on at halftime the day we beat them and let me know right away that he was there.
"He changed the face of the game for Sarries, although I nailed him a couple of times and was quite happy to tell him he was still easy to tackle!"
Sorenson enjoys home time
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