All Blacks: Rokocoko ready to reclaim the passion

Joe Rokocoko says he's keen to get his hands on the ball and just go for it in tonight's Tri-Nations test in Sydney. `You have to go back to the reasons why you first played footy and that is to enjoy it.' Photo / Getty Images

Forwards want to smash into contact, the backs just want an early touch of the leather.

For All Black wing Joe Rokocoko that anxiety will build if he finds himself shut out of play for the opening 10 minutes in tonight's pivotal Tri-Nations test in Sydney.

The experienced test player has been going through a rough trot and even after twin tries and a big part in Auckland's provincial win last week against Northland, thought he was an outside shot to head for Sydney.

He was surprised, relieved and excited he made the cut and even more shocked when he retrieved a voice message to discover he was picked to start. Now he wants to get the ball, early, and have a crack.

Like many, Rokocoko has searched for reasons behind his form slump and believes he may have over-thought his game and become too fraught about his play instead of just having a go.

"You have to go back to the reasons why you first played footy and that is to enjoy it. That's what I want," he said.

"You can analyse things too much at times. It's about having a belief and having a go."

The 26-year-old has an impressive strike rate in his 57 tests, with 44 touchdowns, though a dry patch since the last World Cup had him reaching for the worry beads.

After a mixed test in Durban and having to endure a withering expose of his mistakes in a team training camp last week in Auckland, Rokocoko held scant hope of a selection reprieve in Sydney. He told himself to relax, to go with the flow, to open up in the NPC.

The ball went his way, he made the most of his chances and was back in black.

He still looked a little bemused this week as he talked about his tortured test trail of the past few years.

"I had been talking to Isaia [Toeava] about planning for the Ranfurly Shield game," he confessed.

Instead he will wear the No 14 jersey tonight and claimed he still felt some pressure but, more importantly, was also relaxed. He felt fresh, he could feel his A-game returning.

Up in Kerikeri against Northland, he had answered a general theme national coach Graham Henry put to his squad when they gathered in Auckland to debrief their twin defeats in South Africa.

"Graham really nailed it on the head when he wanted to make sure that the guys who had been there for a long time still had the desire and that we had to question ourselves," Rokocoko revealed. "I went back and tried to answer that."

When he takes the field tonight, Rokocoko wants an early answer to his Bledisloe Bucket-List: an early touch, a run, some involvement to feel the rhythm and impact of the test.

"I just want to be consistent. If I could finish my All Blacks career well-known for being consistent, that would be good."

The physical wing still has his sense of humour and perspective about his troubles as he was reminded about his hat-trick against the Wallabies in 2003. He remembered that well and also the "shocker" he had the year after.

"It all makes you grow as a player because people know what you are capable of and it makes you try even more to get back to where you were.

"When I was young I didn't care too much about anything, no one knew much about me and I was a young guy who just went out there and did his stuff. When you get older and the game changes, you try and analyse too much and you go away from your instincts.

"You don't back yourself as much because you have so much knowledge .. It is harder these days in tests because people and teams you are coming up against are studying you more ... The best thing is to feed off our instincts ... and things then tend to fall into place."