Gloves are off for Masoe in build-up to first test

All Blacks test debutants Chris Masoe and Neemia Tialata outside the team hotel in Cardiff. Ross Land / Getty Images

Giving up boxing and McDonald's have been two of Chris Masoe's key career moves as he braces for an electric test rugby debut against Wales.

The Samoan-born, Wanganui-raised flanker pulls on the No 7 jersey usually mortgaged by Richie McCaw when the All Blacks open their Grand Slam bid.

Top sporting genes highlight the Masoe family from the town of Savai'i, headed by elder brother Maselino, who holds the WBA middleweight world title at the ripe old age of 39.

A fresh-faced Chris - the second youngest of 13 children, and 13 years Maselino's junior - initially tried to follow in his brother's gloveprints but soon realised it wasn't for him.

"I started off as a boxer when I was young at school but I couldn't handle the training and the diet," Masoe said in Cardiff yesterday.

"You've only got two people in the ring. I thought about changing sports and I found rugby. I wasn't too bad at it but I didn't enjoy boxing."

After emigrating from Samoa at the age of 8, he quickly rose through the rugby ranks at schoolboy level in Wanganui, made the Wanganui senior side and then took national sevens coach Gordon Tietjens' eye.

His breakthrough was in 2002, a year that included a Commonwealth Games gold medal and being named New Zealand sevens player of the year.

Tietjens' gutbusting training sessions lifted Masoe's fitness but he admitted last month that something else pushed him to the next level ahead of a stellar 2005.

"I haven't done too much different - I've just been watching what I eat. When you eat fast food hard out all the time it's hard. I've come down to filled rolls and salads."

This year he breezed through Super 12, found a new niche at No 7, helped create havoc at the tackled ball area for Taranaki against the Lions and also impressed for New Zealand A.

He said his brother's world title success last year had inspired him, but while both are in Europe this month they won't be able to support each other.

Maselino Masoe, with a professional fight record of 26 wins (25 knockouts) and two losses, defends his WBA title in Kuppesteg, Germany, against local hope Felix Sturm, on November 27.

The same day, the 1.83m, 106kg Chris Masoe hopes to be rampaging around Murrayfield as the All Blacks try to seal their Grand Slam against Scotland.

"It's a shame I'm not going to be there - I was going to support him. It'll be a good month for the family."

Back in Savai'i, Masoe's parents, now nearing their 70s, and other villagers will crowd around the television to scream him on.

Also watching at home will be partner Renee and their three young children.

"It'll be all for them."

But if the quietly spoken Masoe - with the grin as broad as the Severn Bridge which marks the gateway to Wales - was a touch anxious at facing prying reporters, he has some far greater angst this weekend.

Hooker Anton Oliver yesterday described a packed Millennium Stadium as a "cacophony of craziness".

Into that will step Masoe, under everyone's microscope after coach Graham Henry benched McCaw to give Masoe the ultimate test with an eye to World Cup 2007.

The key advice has been "relax and be yourself", and Masoe sees no reason to quell his human wrecking ball impressions on attack and defence against a Welsh team he knows little about.

McCaw, who will probably captain the All Blacks against Ireland next week, is 18 months Masoe's junior but has all the wisdom of 33 test caps.

"He's the best in the world," Masoe said, "and I'm asking heaps of questions of him.

"He's helping me along, a little bit of advice, and it's great having those sort of guys around me.

"I respect him and I want to learn a lot from him."

- NZPA