RUGBY: Reuben relishes return

Twelve years ago, three highly promising rugby players sat together in a Bay of Plenty classroom and pondered their futures.
The province was mired in the second division. Recognition at that level would be hard to come by. All three decided greener pastures lay elsewhere - and after completing the elite athlete polytechnic course run by esteemed Steamers trainer Keith Roberts, they all headed off to seek their fortunes.
Deon Muir headed over the hill, to a stirring career as a No 8 for Waikato and New Zealand Maori. Adrian Cashmore headed north and added his own personal fire to the big smoke of Auckland. He starred in the NPC and Super 12 and eventually played for the All Blacks.
The third player was a bristling, hyperactive flanker from Te Kaha. Reuben Parkinson was the son of a cray-fisherman who'd spent his school years at St Stephens.
Like Cashmore and Muir and so many others of his generation, he was one that got away from the Bay.
Parkinson's travels took him to Dunedin. A teammate at the Southern club, current Steamers back coach Andre Bell, convinced him to switch to the midfield and a flourishing Otago career began.
He played 49 games for the southern union, winning the NPC title with them in 1998, before heading to Japan and linking up with the Sanix for five seasons. He went to the 2003 World Cup with the Japan team and five weeks ago completed a tour of South America, France and Ireland with the Cherry Blossoms.
Then suddenly the dreadlocked centre was back where it all began.
"Last year, like most other Kiwis, we really followed the Bay when they won the Shield," Parkinson reflected at Steamers training this week.
"I remember thinking how great it would be to play for the Bay, where I was born and bred.
"I had no intentions really but I kept in good shape and was as surprised as anyone when the opportunity came for me, when Allan Bunting got injured."
Bunting's shoulder injury left the Steamers midfield stocks perilously thin. Parkinson, named a week earlier in the Bay's development squad, was suddenly thrust into the top team, coming on in the second half against Otago on Sunday and joining younger brother Matua in the side.
But the Otago side he played with and the one he faced on Sunday have changed as dramatically as the professional rugby landscape, since he started out. The only ex-teammate still playing for Otago was veteran prop Carl Hoeft.
The only other constant was the fortress-like atmosphere at Carisbrook.
"It was really strange - I learned my trade down there and did my time. I know how hard it must have been for other teams coming down and playing in the late 1990s."
Now 32, Parkinson is relaxed and settled. He and wife Loren have three children, Rupena (7), Kalani (4) and two-year-old Tia.
Part of his motivation for still playing is that it gives his two boys a solid brown-skinned role model. Another part is that he just can't seem to stay still for too long.
"I don't like being in a comfort zone. I'm always fidgety. My wife reckons it would be pretty nice to go on holiday to Fiji and sit on a beach - I can't imagine anything worse. I don't want to sit back and put my feet up and watch TV."
It also explains why, in the middle of an NPC campaign, he's also in the throes of taking over the Papamoa Tavern. Takeover day is in the middle of October, right when the NPC semifinals are on.
No worries, he says with a grin. Should be able to get one of the cuzzies to look after it for a week or so.
Parkinson is never far away from his Te Kaha roots - he takes the family back down the coast any chance he can and owns a boat which is set to get a good thrashing from family and teammates alike in the next few months.
In the meantime, he's giving rugby another season. Who knows, maybe another after that as well.
Japan is touring again at the end of the year - he hasn't yet sussed out the residency criteria but he's interested.
"I'm loving putting something back into New Zealand rugby - it's great to be able to play rugby not just for the money, playing for the heart and the province."