A man always on the move

By WYNNE GRAY

The phone call hasn't come this year. Not that Craig de Goldi was holding his breath.

The Auckland flanker had his chance in 1999 before he joined an unusual group who have turned down the offer of test rugby.

Four years ago de Goldi was asked to join an extended Italian squad preparing for the Six Nations and World Cup. He flew over and played strongly enough to be offered a contract.

But de Goldi could not put pen to paper. He was missing home, his future wife and wanted to play more sevens for New Zealand.

"I love sevens, I would have it over fifteens every time," he said. "I love running with the ball, getting out in the open spaces and having a go. In the longer version you have to do plenty of tackling and hit a lot more rucks and mauls."

Auckland coach Wayne Pivac has no concerns about de Goldi's ability in the longer game and has installed him for tomorrow's match against Taranaki, with regular opensider Daniel Braid unavailable because of All Black training.

As de Goldi reflected on that Italian episode this week, he had no regrets. He has a Commonwealth Games gold medal and four world series gold medals. Italy stagger on.

The flanker arrived in Auckland three years ago via Bay of Plenty and the West Coast, a rugby nomad looking for a regular place in a first division side while continuing his sevens career.

He Goldi spent most of his early life in Greymouth and played rugby and league for West Coast.

In rugby, he was used in a variety of backline positions, while in league he played in the second row where he was useful enough without quite emulating his brother Mark, who made the Junior Kiwis.

But when his brother started playing sevens for the Coast, de Goldi gravitated to that game, too. It was a smart move.

National coach Gordon Tietjens spotted him and de Goldi's shift to Rotorua and expert tutelage from Joe Tuhakaraina and the late Joe Tauiwi was not far away.

In fifteens, de Goldi had a trial for the NZ Colts in 1997 as a second five-eighths, but then switched to flanker for the Coast and has stayed in that position in his subsequent moves to the Bay and Auckland.

Moving to Rotorua fitted in with his love of sevens and the dream of playing first division rugby. His play caught the eye of Auckland's talent scouts.

He resisted until three years ago.

In the meantime, Bay of Plenty graduated and stayed in the first division, while Justin Collins and Daniel Braid have been used as Auckland's openside flankers.

De Goldi's cause was not helped by a knee reconstruction. His time in the blue-and-white hoops has been limited, but once again, the 27-year-old has no regrets.

His contract is up with Auckland at the end of the year and then he and his wife Sarah, who is studying to be a horse dentist, will decide on the future.

They have lived on Waiheke Island for more than a year, a paradise in summer but a bit of a hassle in the commute to rugby trainings.

His ute does not have a warrant and he has had to use his scooter to get from the wharf to Eden Park.

Shortly, those hassles will be over when de Goldi and his wife shift to Clevedon.

Whether his travels continue on the sevens circuit is uncertain.

"It is really demanding, it is tough. I still enjoy it, but it will also be hard to imagine playing for anyone else if Tietj and Rushy are not there," he said. "It is hard to imagine anyone else being there with the structure and the culture. I don't know what will happen."

But he knows he and Auckland will be in for a real dog-fight in New Plymouth tomorrow.

De Goldi came on as a replacement against Waikato and came close to scoring as Auckland put in a late revival. He claimed the touchdown before the television match official gave a different verdict.

"I have been getting a fair bit of stick this week, I tried to be a good salesman, eh," he laughed.

"It happened pretty quickly, my jersey was over my head one minute, then the line was there. I was pretty happy with it at the time. I thought there was no use coming up with a blank look on my face, but I have copped some since.

"I think the television match official got it right, though."

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