The consistent thing has been the consistent rule changes and tweaks. The toughest change was about four years ago when the tackler had to release the ball carrier which made it much harder to get turnovers. They haven't been so forceful with that in the last couple of years. The general skill set remains the same - perhaps the big change is the size and strength of the guys.
How much stronger?
When they first did strength testing for Waikato a 60kg bench press of 10 or 12 reps was a pass - now guys do 60kg on each arm. It's the natural progression of guys coming from academies and getting into the professional environment much earlier.
Is there a strong man who stands out in your career?
Aled de Malmanche ticked every box in the gym - it was incredible what he could do. I recall him benching 160kg easily as a warm up.
How do you keep coping with the knocks?
I do feel sore and achy and every time we have a decent training it takes a couple of days to recover. I seem to be someone still willing to suffer a bit for that moment of fun on the weekend. The knees are niggly and don't handle the load some days.
It's not just the weekends any more ...
I'm not overly sold on the short turnarounds. The ITM Cup has become a young man's game because it is semi-pro - you can't support a family off that wage. It has become a comp to develop young players but when you have four games in two weeks you can't develop anyone. It's just play, recover, play, recover.
How do you make ends meet?
I've got a family building company and take unpaid leave during the competition, although I do a bit of work on my days off.
Your test career coincided with that of a certain Richie McCaw ...
To see him still going through what he does at the top level, still staking a claim to be the world's best, is pretty amazing. I didn't get as much game time as I would have liked but I feel privileged to have been involved (with the All Blacks). I was just a Waikato battler.
All-time favourite opponent ...
George Smith (Wallaby and Brumbies flanker). He was a smart character. The general No7 approach is to go at the breakdown, be a nuisance, get on the ball. But he was also good at thinking of other ways around it. That showed a few years ago against the Chiefs, who were pretty aggressive at the ruck. He made as if he was going in but bounced out, let their cleaners flop on the ground, then went for the ball which was sitting in the clear.
Wackiest team mate ...
At Waikato we had Sosene Anesi, who had a few different traits. He was a big fan of taking his clothes off. A couple of times he got caught training in the gym naked.
You were the defence coach last year ...
Some people have an ability to inspire and improve players and I found out that I'm not one of them.
Your Waikato highlight as a player?
Winning the comp in '06. We'd had a couple of good years without going all the way, and it was very pleasing to win that year with a group of guys I've got a lot of time for.
Is there one thing you would change in rugby?
Steve Hansen has raised very interesting ideas with regards to referees ... having something like the top 10 refs in the world doing all the games with specialist touch judges.
We could use the same model in New Zealand. That would reduce the reliance on each referee's interpretations ... it is hard to keep adjusting from one referee to another and decisions are also going wrong.
