NRL: Game breaker gives his team huge edge

Ukuma Ta'ai has gone from strength to strength. Photo / Getty Images

Ukuma Ta'ai was missing last night and he is the man bringing some of the mongrel back to the Warriors.

Now the Warriors no longer have the monster forward pack for which they were once renowned, there has been a perception the team have often relied on industry rather than impact in recent times.

Think of forwards such as Micheal Luck, Simon Mannering, Jacob Lillyman, Jeremy Latimore - all solid professionals with great work ethics and low mistake rates, but perhaps not the types to inflict maximum damage in this collision sport.

The softly spoken Ta'ai is. The 1.87m, 103kg Tongan international is someone who can bend or break the line on attack, while adding serious starch to the defensive system. He pulled out of last night's clash with Manly with a knee injury and is clearly adding a vital element.

"From a player's point of view he brings a presence with and without the ball," says Warriors captain Simon Mannering.

"He gets you on the front foot or stops a big guy getting a quick play the ball. He is physical in everything he does and it lifts the side."

It is no coincidence the team have started to get the right results since his inclusion for the Sharks match in round four. Against the Roosters, he put on some particularly big hits and managed to repeat the dose off the bench in last night's encounter at Brookvale.

"He has got his own brand of X-factor," says coach Ivan Cleary. "He is incredibly strong and his physical presence out there has been handy for us over the last few weeks."

Ta'ai's story certainly has Cinderella appeal.

He arrived in New Zealand as a student on a rugby scholarship in 2007 and, when his visa expired, took a job at a South Auckland meat processing plant to help his family financially. During most of his six months there he worked from 5am-2pm, near the front of the line butchering the whole carcasses.

"I didn't know how to do it and I was pretty slow," remembers Ta'ai. "The boss kept saying it's okay - keep going. It was pretty hard work.

"It was good money, but not as good as when I got my [Warriors] contract."

Workmates persuaded him to switch codes and he was a revelation for the Mt Albert Lions in 2008.

Word soon spread and he was invited to a session with the Warriors. Shy, and with little English, he declined but his coach at the Lions, Brent Gemmell, persisted and took him to Mt Smart Stadium.

Cleary often receives tips and was wary of expecting too much, despite being assured Ta'ai could be the the real deal.

"For a Polynesian kid who didn't have much about him and hadn't really played much league, I immediately thought it was going to take a while to get him up to speed in terms of his fitness," recalls Cleary. "But we did a pretty intense fitness session that night and he was right in the middle of the pack."

Cleary was immediately impressed with his engine and natural fitness and also noted his muscled but lean physique.

"He hadn't been over long from Tonga - and I don't think they have too many McDonald's or KFCs over there," jokes Cleary. "He has found a little bit of Western food since, I think."

Since his round two debut at Brookvale in 2009, Ta'ai has racked up 33 matches for the Warriors. He developed a handy taste for the tryline last year, dotting down five times in his 20 appearances. His first NRL matches were noticeable for errors overshadowing the effort but progress has been strong.

Sometime second row colleague Mannering has also been impressed. "He has come a long way. He had played a lot of rugby but had all the physical attributes to play rugby league and he hasn't looked back. In terms of understanding the structures of defence and attack, he has really grown as a player.Now when you see him play, he goes at 100 miles an hour and he is a real strength for us on the edge."

Ta'ai says the instructions are pretty clear from his boss.

"He wants me to do the hard hits and the hard runs - that's my job. I want to be more aggressive. It can be hard physically - some of the [opponents] out there are big but they can be scared."

Watching Ta'ai you get the feeling there is more flair and he unveiled an offloading ability in patches in 2010. But Cleary, who demands a structured game plan, regularly reminds him to pick his moments.

"I'm still practising my offloads but sometimes Ivan tells me just to run hard and keep the ball," says Ta'ai. "Sometimes I feel a bit afraid - I know if I drop the ball I might get in trouble."

For Cleary, it is more about making trouble for the opposition: "He has an explosive style and needs to marry that up with being able to play long minutes as well. He needs more consistency through the 80 minutes of a game."

Last season the Knights, Storm, Cowboys and Roosters were all said to be interested in the 24-year-old, before the Warriors took up their option for 2011.

Ta'ai's language skills have improved and he has taken a computing course as he looks to a future outside the game.

And away from the meat works.

"I never give up trying to improve," says Ta'ai, "I don't want to go back to the factory."