Wairarapa lock has ton of grit

Watching Wairarapa-Bush lock Dan Joblin throw himself about the rugby field you'd never guess injury kept him out of the game for four years.
Joblin, 23, suffered a broken pelvis in a tractor accident on the family farm at Gladstone while in his sixth form year at Wairarapa College and his doctor's advice was to take a decent break from the sport.
And he did exactly that, spending four years following other less physical pursuits.
Giving away his rugby was not a huge burden for Joblin. He had few aspirations as a player at the time and, in fact, it has only been since he joined up with the Gladstone club's senior side at the start of this season that his interest in the code has got to the "serious" stage.
"I liked my rugby at college but that's about as far as it went," he said. "It was something I could do without"
Joblin's consistent performances for Gladstone saw him attract the attention of Wairarapa-Bush selector-coach Peter Russell and he was added to the representative squad preparing for their NPC third division campaign in 2004.
At 2.07m tall and 109kg in weight he had the attributes to be a major ball winner at lineout time, and Russell also liked his enthusiastic approach in all other aspects of the forward game.
It's an approach which Joblin admits is modelled on a player who he sees as the ideal role model, former All Black lock Norm Maxwell.
"He (Maxwell) doesn't hold anything back?..he's very physical," Joblin said. "That's the sort of player I try to be."
The main goal for Joblin on making the rep squad was to play well enough off the reserve bench to force his way into the starting XV
And when that happened he was determined to lift his effort enough to keep the challengers at bay.
"It's good to have competition for places in the team and we've got that," he said.
"You can't really afford a bad game."
The third division semi-final against Mid-Canterbury last Saturday saw Joblin produce a player of the match performance.
He was a dominant figure in the lineouts, regularly taking down clean ball on Wairarapa-Bush throws and snaring opposition ball as well.
The latter seldom happens in rugby these days with teams generally content to allow the team throwing in to win their own ball.
Wairarapa-Bush though prefer to compete in practically every lineout and it's a policy with which Joblin concurs.
"It's important to put pressure on the opposition, no matter what the area of the game,' he said. "You shouldn't give them anything for nothing."
Having seasoned campaigner and obvious player of the year for 2004 in Stu Smith as his locking partner is seen by Joblin as a huge plus.
He said that like most players in the Wairarapa-Bush squad Smith was a humble person who didn't talk up his own achievements, but every now and again he would have a "quiet word" with his less experienced teammate.
"He (Smith) is always very encouraging. He keep things pretty positive," Joblin said.
The win over Mid-Canterbury set up a meeting for Wairarapa-Bush with Poverty Bay in Gisborne on Sarturday at which the third division title will be at stake.
Their preliminary round clash saw Poverty Bay romp home 30-5, but Jobin is matter-of-fact when he says Wairarapa-Bush won't play that badly again.
Indeed he views Saturday's game as an ideal opportunity for redemption."We know we let ourselves down badly last time and this is our chance to make amends. We're determined to make the most of it," he said.
Whether Joblin will be available again for Wairarapa-Bush in 2005 is uncertain.
He heads to Dunedin about the end of next month where he will study surveying at Otago University and is unsure of where he will be come next rugby season.
One hopes, however, that the Wairarapa-Bush union will be doing everything in their power to see that his services are retained.
Players of Dan Joblin's promise aren't exactly a dime a dozen around these parts."