Corey Flynn, a tough dude with attitude

By WYNNE GRAY

An entry in the Southland Boys High School magazine from 1997 brings a chuckle from first XV coach Peter Skelt.

His amusement comes from his description of Corey Flynn, one which mirrored that of All Black coach John Mitchell when he chose the young hooker for the World Cup.

Skelt wrote that Flynn was "explosive and dynamic," while Mitchell, in his squad announcement last month, depicted him as "probably the most dynamic hooker" in the country.

The coincidence was even greater, though.

Six years ago Flynn was a surprise pick as hooker for Skelt's first XV. Last month he was the wildcard All Black choice for the World Cup.

No one doubted his potential, but he was still recovering from his second broken arm in a year, he had played (and still played) just 1 1/2 games of rugby since early May.

Flynn's road to the front row had an inauspicious start in the winter of 1997. He was a top notch openside flanker, but the coach also had another outstanding breakaway, Jeff Wright, who later played for the national under-19 side and is back on loan with Southland this season.

"In a school of 500 boys we have to try to make the best use of our resources, which is why I decided Corey was going to be hooker," Skelt recalled. "He had the physique, he had the body-type, he had the attitude."

But the coach sensed that decision would bring trouble and he was right.

The first XV squad trained together for about a week before Skelt decided it was time to test the scrum machine, parked about 600m away in the corner of the school grounds.

As the forwards formed with the hooker's position vacant, Skelt eye-balled Flynn.

"It must have gone on for about four or five minutes. He was a very focused, very driven young guy," the coach said.

Finally the silence was broken when Skelt informed Flynn he had a new job. No way, was the reply, he was not playing hooker. The standoff continued before Flynn left, cursing and scuffing the turf with his boots all the way to the school block.

About 20 minutes later, Flynn drifted back towards the periphery of the practice. Skelt ignored him until he sidled up to the scrum machine.

"He was a very physical guy and he picked up the person playing hooker, turfed him out of the way, crouched, looked at me and said, 'You prick,' and smashed into the machine."

That year Flynn made the national secondary schools side as hooker - his path to national success had begun.

"I did take a fair bit of persuading," Flynn said.

"I was very sceptical and a bit nervous about it all to start with. But it is a great job because you get to touch the ball all the time."

Born 22 years ago in Invercargill, Flynn continued a family tradition of sporting excellence. Uncle Aaron played halfback for the Crusaders, another uncle, Robbie, played rugby for the United States, and the surname litters Southland and Canterbury sporting records.

At school, Flynn was into softball, hockey, netball and rowing, where he and Bruce Magee won a gold medal in the under-17 double sculls at the national championships.

"We had a great rowing coach, Russell Everett, who knew how to get the best out of us. Training was a lot harder than it was for rugby. It was a mentally demanding sport to be stuck in a half-metre-wide space."

It also kept Flynn too lean for rugby, a sport where he figured he had more aptitude.

He made the NZ under-19 and Colts teams, his Southland debut as a 20-year-old, Super 12 and NZ Maori debuts last year and, his left arm willing, is off to the World Cup in 10 days.

It is a spectacular promotion and even more dramatic considering that Flynn has suffered a broken leg and two broken arms since he left Southland Boys High.

Jibes about not drinking enough milk persist, but seem inappropriate around this 106kg shaven-headed pile of muscle.

He is a tough dude, resilient enough to cope with broken limbs and widespread antipathy in Southland when he transferred last season to Canterbury.

Flynn lost his job as provincial skipper and a week later broke his left arm when he collided with a Taranaki forward.

"Putting it nicely, I suppose there was a heap of resentment around. Everyone was a know-all saying I could be an All Black from Southland and I didn't think that could happen.

"I thought I had to go away for my career and some people did not accept that. People are over it now. It has happened a lot of times in Southland, it is just one of those things."

With the Crusaders, he was just starting to compete with Mark Hammett for a regular start when he broke the same arm against the Stormers.

Flynn wondered whether his arm might heal enough to take in the NZ Maori tour to Canada.

He played a full club game for Sydenham, but half-an-hour afterwards still had little feeling in his arm.

"I knew it was not right. It was swollen, I could not move it properly and it seemed the fracture had not had enough time to heal."

Flynn bypassed that trip, and felt that an outside chance of being one of the three All Black hookers for the World Cup had also disappeared.

He set his target as a return for Canterbury in the NPC against his old Southland province.

In the interim he managed half a game for Canterbury Maori against Metro. He went all right, but said he shied away from one tackle on his left-hand side, uncertain whether his arm would cope.

A few weeks later he was being introduced as an All Black, the beneficiary of the decision to take three hookers and someone Mitchell believed could match the dynamism of Keven Mealamu.

"Corey carries the ball very well and he is a dominant tackler outside set pieces," Mitchell said.

"In many ways he is similar to Keven Mealamu. We have had our eye on him for a long time and it's just a pity he got injured."

Although a number of All Blacks have been released for the NPC, Flynn has been retained in the confines of the training camps, so judging his form and fitness remains an in-house assessment.

"We are working pretty hard," he said.

"We all want to play at the World Cup. That is the attitude of the whole squad, we are all competing for places.

"I watched the last World Cup on television.

"I am someone who lives, eats and breathes rugby, I go to games whenever I can, so this will be magic."

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