Cory Jane brings new meaning to the expression "doing his own thing" and is a refreshing change in the homogenised rugby world.
The utility 26-year-old will start on the right wing for the All Blacks tonight against the Wallabies but you won't find him getting into any zone or pre-game
funk hours before the test.
He tried that sort of preparation when he made the Wellington side in 2003. He watched the side's senior players go through their routines and thought he'd better copy their style.
"They used to get amped up hours before the game and that's what I did but then I used to get nervous when I got out on the field and make mistakes and not do what I normally do, so now I have changed and I am more excited than nervous and play my own game," he said.
Jane has a temperament he thinks is best suited to switching off after trainings and then waiting until the warmups before games to switch on his game face and thinking. It is a method he has worked out for himself and one he will take into tonight's test on his home patch at the Cake Tin.
It is a journey former Wellington hooker and Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy has watched and admired.
"Cory has stepped up every time he has been asked from his days at Heretaunga College," Guppy said.
"He has never been in elite squads but he has always shown intense loyalty and has never forgotten where he came from. His determination has shone through at every level.
"He is an unusual player and his strength is his pace in the first five metres and, unlike many, he can read a game five plays ahead. His speed will get him through gaps 95 per cent of the time.
"Cory has always had the ability and he always brings his desire to work. He said, 'I have got some talent - I am going to use it'."
Away from his sporting work and his domestic duties including looking after his son, Jane spends time watching the NFL and his favourite Tennessee Titans side. But when he is with Wellington or the All Blacks all his focus is on the footy.
He will wear the No 14 jersey on the right wing tonight after Joe Rokocoko chose to return to the No 11 jersey he used to wear before Sitiveni Sivivatu nabbed it. Jane last started against the Wallabies at Eden Park where he felt he played steadily but was quite cautious in his positional play.
Since that 22-16 victory there was a cameo sub-appearance last week against the Springboks. Nothing else. It baffled many including Jane.
There was also the messy provincial spat and his brief involvement with Wellington B, a situation he said was blown out of proportion but was now sorted, before his return to the Lions and now the national side.
"You always have to keep training like you are in the team," he said. "You have to make sure you do not get your head out of it because they will always be watching and you have to keep training. You have to let them know you are keen."
The message got through this week while privately, Jane was not sure what he had done wrong after Auckland. He figured the selectors chose Joe Rokocoko for the games in Africa because of his size.
But he is back and has given himself more of a licence to roam tonight in his eighth test.
"I'm going to try and roam the field because in the last game I just kept width and chased balls, so this time I want to get around the field and get involved.
"Even though I'm on the wing I will try and take it like a fullback's role and try to get involved and run those lines.
"I do not want to sit out on the wing and let the game go by. That is my choice. As a fullback you roam and on the wing you can sit there and think you are not doing too much. Siti talks a lot about the way the ball does not come to him like it used to."
Jane admitted he used to be worried that if he shifted from the flank to go ball-hunting and possession then shot out to the flank he would get reprimanded. But he has got past that concern and decided on his roving commission.
"If you just think the ball's going to come to you and you will jog over the line and score ... it's not like it was a few years ago when it used to happen."
ALL BLACKS v WALLABIES:
Where and when: Wellington, 7.35 tonight, Live Sky Sport 1
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Touch judges: Wayne Barnes (England), Cobus Wessels (South Africa)
TV official: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
NEW ZEALAND
Coach: Graham Henry
Mils Muliaina
AGE: 29, 1.84m, 92kg, TESTS: 76, Waikato
Cory Jane
26, 1.83m, 88kg, 7, Wellington
Isaia Toeava
23, 1.81m, 92kg, 25, Auckland
Ma'a Nonu
27, 1.8om, 104kg, 41, Wellington
Joe Rokocoko
26, 1.89m, 98kg, 59, Auckland
Daniel Carter
27, 1.79, 91kg, 61, Canterbury
Jimmy Cowan
27, 1.83m, 92kg, 26, Southland
Kieran Read
23, 1.93m, 105kg, 11, Canterbury
Richie McCaw (c)
28, 1.87m, 106kg, 75, Canterbury
Adam Thomson
27, 1.96m, 112kg, 11, Otago
Tom Donnelly
27, 2m, 113kg, 0, Otago
Brad Thorn
34, 1.95m, 113kg, 32, Canterbury
Neemia Tialata
27, 1.87m, 127kg, 36, Wellington
Andrew Hore
30, 1.83m, 111kg, 42, Taranaki
Tony Woodcock
28, 1.84m, 118kg, 57, N Harbour
Reserves
Aled de Malmanche
25, 1.85m, 112kg, 1, Waikato
John Afoa
25, 1.83m, 120kg, 19, Auckland
Jason Eaton
27, 2.02m, 107kg, 12, Taranaki
Rodney So'oialo
29, 1.90m, 107kg, 59, Wellington
Brendon Leonard
24, 1.82m, 91kg, 11, Waikato
Stephen Donald
25, 1.86m, 96kg, 16, Waikato
Hosea Gear
25, 1.89m, 100kg, 1, Wellington
AUSTRALIA
Coach: Robbie Deans
James O'Connor
AGE: 19, 1.80m, 80kg, TESTS: 9, Force
Lachie Turner
22, 1.89m, 88kg, 10, Waratahs
Adam Ashley-Cooper
25, 1.82m, 98kg, 31, Brumbies
Berrick Barnes
23, 1.83, 87kg, 18, Waratahs
Drew Mitchell
22, 1.85, 95kg, 36, Waratahs
Matt Giteau
26, 1.78, 85kg, 72, Brumbies
Will Genia
21, 1.82, 85kg, 5, Reds
George Smith (c)
29, 1.80m, 103kg, 104, Brumbies
David Pocock
21, 1.81m, 101kg, 10, Force
Rocky Elsom
26, 1.97m, 106kg, 43, Brumbies
Mark Chisholm
27, 1.97m, 112kg, 42, Brumbies
James Horwill
24, 2m, 115kg, 18, Reds
Ben Alexander
25, 1.89m, 117kg, 12, Brumbies
Tatafu Polota-Nau
24, 1.81m, 113kg, 14, Waratahs
Benn Robinson
25, 1.83m, 113kg, 25, Waratahs
Reserves
Stephen Moore
26, 1.86m, 112kg, 40, Brumbies
Pek Cowan
23, 1.85, 116kg, 2, Force
Dean Mumm
25, 1.96m, 109kg, 16, Waratahs
Wycliff Palu
27, 1.94, 120kg, 28, Waratahs
Luke Burgess
26, 1.79m, 89kg, Waratahs
Quade Cooper
21, 1.86m, 92.5kg, 6, Reds
Peter Hynes
27, 1.80m, 92kg, 18, Reds
Cory Jane says he doesn't get himself worked up before a game any more because it makes him nervy. Photo / Sarah Ivey
Cory Jane brings new meaning to the expression "doing his own thing" and is a refreshing change in the homogenised rugby world.
The utility 26-year-old will start on the right wing for the All Blacks tonight against the Wallabies but you won't find him getting into any zone or pre-game
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.