Bay of Plenty's Chase Tiatia skips out of a tackle to score one of his three tries against Hawke's Bay. Photo / Getty Images
Bay of Plenty's Chase Tiatia skips out of a tackle to score one of his three tries against Hawke's Bay. Photo / Getty Images
COMMENT
Philosophers want to know the meaning of life. Police want to know how to prevent crime. Fishermen want to know the best spot to drop a line.
Mitre 10 Cup defenders want to know how on earth you stop Chase Tiatia.
The Bay of Plenty Steamers' excitement machine isat the peak of his powers this season - a hat-trick against Hawke's Bay at the weekend just the tip of the iceberg.
Originally from Wellington, where he played under Steamers head coach Clayton McMillan for the Wellington Under-19s, Tiatia moved to the Bay to link up with his former coach in 2015. The move paid instant dividends, playing all 11 games that year and picking up the Steamers' Rookie of the Year award.
His progress since then has been hampered by injury but there has never been any doubt about his ability to tear a game wide open - something the Hurricanes were well aware of when they gave him a Super Rugby contract this year which saw him play six games.
Chase Tiatia runs in a try during the Steamers' round six Mitre 10 Cup win over Taranaki. Photo / Getty Images
Traditionally a fullback, Tiatia has started the last three Steamers games at second five where he is forming a lethal combination with centre Matthew Skipwith-Garland.
The highlight of watching Tiatia in action is his unpredictability. He doesn't look like the strongest, most athletic guy on the field but he is deceptively powerful and elusive, breaking tackles at will and leaving defenders in the dust.
I'm not on the Bay of Plenty coaching staff but I imagine the key to getting the best version of Chase Tiatia on the field is to ensure he is enjoying himself. Watching him this season reminds me of a kid playing rugby on the school field at lunchtime - the smile never waivers, he doesn't worry about what might go wrong or a move not working out, he throws caution to the wind and has a crack.
Tiatia is something of an enigma, he marches to the beat of his own drum. In a sport which has become so professional at every level, in which every move is recorded and analysed, the freedom with which he plays is refreshing.
Steamers assistant coach Mike Delany provided some insight after the win over Hawke's Bay on Saturday when he told me the key to unlocking Tiatia's talent was simply to let him play his own game.
"We leave him alone half the time, let him do his own thing. Hopefully, he turns up on Saturday and does his thing but he's pretty grounded - he loves the lads and putting in a good performance for the jersey."
While Tiatia has set the competition alight and is right in the race for the Duane Monkley Medal for player of the year in the Mitre 10 Cup, he refuses to take credit for his performances, insisting in every interview that it is the players around him making him look good.
Whatever the case, the Steamers now sit comfortably in second place and are a good chance of leapfrogging Hawke's Bay, who have the tougher run home, into first after the last two round-robin games.
This weekend they take on fifth placed Manawatu as part of a doubleheader at the Tauranga Domain. Their game will follow the Bay of Plenty Volcanix taking on Manawatu in the Farah Palmer Cup on the back of their first win of the season.
If you enjoy free-flowing, attacking rugby, I suggest you get down there.
