By Wynne Gray
Up and under
When the All Blacks trot out for their first World Cup game later this year in Bristol, they will be tangling with a New Zealander who was their nemesis at the last global tournament.
The All Blacks will meet Tonga, who this week beat South Korea in the second leg of their qualifying games. Behind the Tongan team are two new coaches from South Africa and a technical advisor who also calls the republic home but who grew up in Dunedin.
He is David Waterston, who travelled to South Africa in the early 1970s, made his fortune as an insurance broker based in Johannesburg and also worked his way into the Transvaal rugby set-up.
His specialty was statistics and Waterston used that interest and video technology to work up a huge stack of information for that rugby union.
During that time he also became good friends with Kitch Christie, and when Christie was appointed Springbok coach, Waterston slotted in as his technical adviser, the man whose statistical information was used to formulate many Springbok tactics. His analysis was used to negate opposition strategies and promote the Springbok strengths.
After the 1995 triumph of winning the World Cup, Waterston dropped out of the Springbok limelight as Christie's health deteriorated and new coaches like Andre Markgraaf, Carel du Plessis and now Nick Mallett followed.
But now Waterston is back for the fourth World Cup working under the red colours of Tonga.
His involvement came as Tonga searched for guidance after losing three consecutive tests in the Pacific qualifying tournament last year. The search stopped in South Africa, where Dr Ignatius Pretorius and Sebastian Hatting were recruited as coaches and Waterston as the technical adviser.
The losing run stopped and Tonga this week became the last qualifiers and the All Blacks' first opponents in their pool for the October start to the World Cup.
All Black selector Gordon Hunter remembers Waterston from their days in Dunedin.
"He is a very passionate man about his rugby and he has a bent for the technical, statistical side of it," recalled Hunter.
"He went to South Africa and then the next I knew of him I was coaching Otago in the Super 10 against Transvaal, who were using Dave's video analysis to break down all my plays.
"They knew more about me, my team and the way we played than I did and that was scary. That was the first time I was exposed to this sort of video analysis and now we use it a lot with the All Blacks."
Tonga had a troubled tour of New Zealand last year but carry some familiar names for this year's World Cup. Former captain, Manawatu and North Harbour forward Mana Otai is back, so too first five-eighths Elisi Vunipola, former Wallaby loose forward Fili Finau and former soccer international and occasional Auckland wing Taunaholo Taufahema.
Tonga will also be courting players who qualify and are playing in Japan, the British Isles, Australia or New Zealand, where a few players who miss All Black or New Zealand A selection may then become available for the Pacific Islands republic.