Rugby: Fruean to hone skills at sevens

Robbie Fruean. Photo / Getty Images

Gordon Tietjens and his notoriously brutal training methods have been charged with fast-tracking the progress of Crusaders centre Robbie Fruean.

The 21-year-old former world junior player of the year enjoyed a solid rookie season with the Crusaders but his lack of conditioning hit towards the end of the campaign.

His presence in last week's Commonwealth Games training camp was about exposing him to tough aerobic work and acquainting him with the patterns of the abbreviated game.

The All Black coaches and Tietjens believe sevens could be the mechanism not only to improve Fruean's fitness but also to refine his passing and handling skills.

Fruean, a product of Porirua College, was discovered by national age-grade selectors when he reached his final year at school. His selection was earned on the back of raw talent and athleticism and, unlike his peers from the established rugby schools, he was exposed to little formal training.

He would have closed the conditioning gap when he entered the Wellington Academy in 2007 had it not been for serious illness. Shortly after returning home with the successful New Zealand under-19 team, he required open heart surgery to repair the rare condition known as pancarditis.

It took him until the last few weeks of Super14 last year to return to the game and, having missed so much rugby and training, he lagged behind even the tight forwards during Crusaders pre-season training.

He was lured south by Crusaders assistant coach Daryl Gibson, who saw a 106kg centre with the speed, skills and physicality to replace the departing Casey Laulala.

Fruean first caught Tietjens' eye a few years ago "before he headed off with the Juniors".

"He's a classy footballer and he probably would have played for me before now had it not been for illness.

"He's a bit bigger and stronger than when I first saw him and he, like many of the players who were in camp, improved dramatically over the course of the two days."

Fruean is not the only player whose future could be kick-started by Tietjens - the All Black selectors have encouraged Adam Thomson, Ben Smith and Zac Guildford to play sevens this year. The All Black coaches, like Tietjens, believe there is now a greater overlap of skills between sevens and the 15-man game.

"We have very good dialogue with the All Black coaches," says Tietjens. "One of the things I am conscious of is not letting players lose muscle mass [while they are playing sevens]. We will have a camp in August and then we will assemble on September 29 before playing our first game on October 16.

"That gives us plenty of time to get the conditioning right."

The likes of Fruean, Thomson, Guildford and Smith will all be desperate to make the final squad - not just for the experience of being at a Commonwealth Games but also because they may be able to force their way back into the All Black reckoning for the end of season tour with a good sevens showing.

The conditioning they will have to reach to make the squad and the sharpness of their basic skills will be hard for the All Black selectors to resist.