Rugby: Mealamu shapes up for mammoth year

Blues captain Keven Mealamu went for a few more runs in the off-season to be ready for the chance to lift some silverware. Photo / Getty Images

He's never really been away, but even still 2010 felt like the year Keven Mealamu came back.

The bustling frontrower, now entering his 11th year of Super Rugby, took advantage of the injury and long rehabilitation of Andrew Hore to reassert himself as the best hooker in the country.

Mealamu started 12 of 14 tests for the All Blacks, pushing his total caps to 83.

The only two he missed, against Scotland and Ireland, were due to a case of white-line fever at Twickenham that saw Mealamu make history as the only man convicted in Glasgow, where the hearing was held, of headbutting an Englishman (a sentence reduced on appeal from four to two weeks).

"It was nice to get a chance to be out there and almost say, 'this is what I love to do in the All Black jersey'," said Mealamu, referencing his increased game time rather than his cleanout of England captain Lewis Moody.

"You get a chance to express yourself. I was able to learn quite a bit over the previous couple of years and 2010 was a year where everything clicked.

"It was a good learning curve to go on and I know there's still things I can still improve on. That's a good sign for me leading into such a big year."

Big year is a recurrent theme in the conversation and the chance to lift some silverware on October 23 is not so much the elephant in the room, but a woolly mammoth.

With no dedicated rest-and-reconditioning window a la 2007, Mealamu said he had taken it upon himself to modify his offseason.

"We're pretty lucky down here to have Christmas as our off-season, so it's a special time of the year to be home," he said. "But I tried to be a bit more sensible this year. We had a lot of family dinners and barbecues, but knowing what was ahead this year I've tried to eat a bit more sensibly.

"I've been out for a few more runs just to try to make sure I wasn't too far behind the eight-ball coming into the season.

"A lot of the boys have come back in really good nick and that's the way we need to be. It's a really big season so we need to make sure we're in good shape leading into it."

As Blues captain, Mealamu appeared at the recent launch of the reconfigured competition alongside Hurricanes skipper Andrew Hore.

With his rebuilt shoulder, even with a re-focused Hika Elliot snapping away at their heels, Hore stands as the biggest threat to Mealamu's starting position in the All Blacks.

"It makes it harder from the point of view that it's another class player competing for the same position," Mealamu admitted. "But it makes it easier because the motivation is going to be there to make sure that I'm at my best and pushing him hard for the spot.

"It's great for the All Blacks. We've got a lot of quality guys aiming for the one spot."

Mealamu has enjoyed his pre-season, particularly the opportunity to get among the Far North fans at Kerikeri when they beat the Hurricanes 33-22 a fortnight ago. Actually, enjoyed might not be the right word.

"The heat was ridiculous. A lot of the boys lost a lot of weight. I lost 3.5kg. In 40 minutes, that's pretty good, I reckon."

Someone pass on the tip to Jenny Craig.