Rugby: Friends become foes as Braid eyes up Chiefs

Blues skipper Luke Braid is keen to get payback for the last encounter with the Chiefs. Photo / Sandra Mu

Battle of the loosies will go a long way towards defining tomorrow's top v bottom clash.

It's a reunion of sorts but the bonhomie will have to wait until after the match.

Blues skipper Luke Braid with Chiefs duo Tanerau Latimer and Sam Cane all went to Tauranga Boys' College and play for Bay of Plenty.

Cane and Braid will square off against each other in Super 15 combat tomorrow, while Latimer will watch on after being invalided out with a knee injury.

All three are openside flankers. Latimer is the oldest at 26 and has played five tests for the All Blacks, Braid is still looking to gain a test cap to emulate older brother Daniel and father Gary, while Cane has been picked in this year's All Black wider training squad.

While they are foes tomorrow, it is easy to understand Braid's admiration for his rivals.

"Lats and I are good mates and he is playing the best rugby since he made the All Blacks a few years back," Braid suggested.

"He has been very consistent and has played awesome in a big year for the Chiefs."

Cane spent a year at Tauranga Boys' and has been with the Steamers for the last few seasons as he builds his reputation.

"He is just packed with talent," Braid said. "He is young but he has got something special about him. If you train with him you will see him do amazing things.

"He has got good skillsets, he carries out wide, he has got good hands, he keeps going and he has a bit of mongrel about him."

Braid looks with envy at the Chiefs' progress this season. He tasted some of that with the Blues last year but like his teammates has endured a tournament from hell this time.

He also inherited the captaincy when Keven Mealamu's calf muscle proved unco-operative. Braid has led the Blues in six matches and collected one of the side's two victories this year.

It is a tough gig for a 23-year-old who is learning his craft at the same time. But senior squad members such as Mealamu, Tony Woodcock and Ali Williams were adamant the flanker was the man for the job.

As injuries have bit even deeper into the team, Braid has also been forced to play all three loose forward roles.

"I hadn't played No 8 since I left school but we have lost a lot of loosies this season," he said.

Jerome Kaino was gone for the season after two games, Chris Lowrey was banged up with concussion, Brad Mika damaged a knee while Peter Saili also suffered several injuries.

Like any leader Braid fills in where he can best help his side but admits he is a little "green" about the nuances of No 8 play.

"I can use my brain and sort it, I am versatile enough to assist but I am more comfortable at six or seven," he said.

"Seven is my preferred role and is the position I think I need to play if I am going to make it to the next level. I have been round the pack though. At school I filled in at hooker and then No 8 but I was an opensider for NZ Schools."

Braid also admits he is learning the roles as captain.

It was a great honour to be asked to lead the Blues "but it is a big learning curve for me".

"It has been hard but I have learned so much in the last few games, making decisions which have a serious effect on the games."

Braid used the example of last week's match with the Highlanders when the visitors' Phil Burleigh was sent to the sin bin.

The Blues had an attacking scrum near the line and felt they could get a pushover try instead of shifting the ball to the space in their backline.

As a player there were chances to get into a personal zone before games.

But as a captain, there were many other roles to attend to like checking conditions, working on any late changes to tactics, discussing interpretations with the referee, making the toss and making sure all areas were ticked off.

Braid captained his school 1st XV for several years and got great support from his brother with the Blues.

"I just feel I have to try to lead by my playing example. Then the five-eighths runs the attacks, someone else does defence, Ali does the lineouts and Woody sorts out the scrums.

"So my job is keeping them on general task. It is very old-school to think of a captain as a one-man band. I get lots of help."

Braid does not indulge in much pre-match yelling or fist-pumping. "It is up to all of us to get prepared," he said.

He did not think he would deliver any stronger pre-match message for this game with the Chiefs.

"The emotion will be there because we are teams who hate each other," he said. "We have not been the underdog for a while though but last time they really hooked us, they gave us a hiding in the wet at Hamilton.

"We want to take them on. It will be a good experience for this team and the ones who are going to stick around next year."

The Blues had grabbed a late bit of the Chiefs' forward style last round when they picked and drove for two tries. If they could repeat that and find some consistency like the Chiefs, tomorrow could be a very tasty contest.

It would also lead to some lively post-match talk between old schoolmates.