Shannan Chase weaves his magic. Photo / Glenn Taylor
The fun lasted for 64 minutes on the field, Chase involved in everything, of course.
The moon on the 27th day: Otane: Central Hawkes Bay. The one line description: Wikipedia: "A small village with a school, general store, cafe, and pub." Otane: Place of man: fewer and fewer it would seem. Otane: OT to the kids: not much happening here.
Actually, something is happening in Otane right now. For starters, Shannan Chase's phone is ringing. His teammates say "his texts have gone a bit crazy" since that game on the weekend, the one in which he made his debut for the Magpies, fresh from the boning room at the meatworks. A lamb to the slaughter? Not a chance.
Shannan Chase! What a debut!
Personal details were scarce. Who was this kid? What was he doing out there with his socks around his ankles and his head gear taming that death metal do of his? We knew this: He was somewhere between 21 and 23 years old. He hadn't played a game of footy since the club finals, and even then he had only managed a handful of games for Havelock North after recovering from a hamstring injury that had scuppered a comeback from a broken leg.
Tough as nails, young Shannan Chase. Humble as Hawkes Bay rain on a summer's day. Not too much expected.
But look! It's minute two and there he goes! On the outside of Otago's Jayden Spence, ball in one arm, evading Tom Franklin, drawing in Trent Renata, offloading to Ryan Tongia, setting up the first try of the game. There he is offloading again on the left wing side! Here he comes on the inside of captain Gareth Evans, away from the cover defence, inside the fullback, under the dot! Shannan Chase for 197m in his first game for the Magpies.
Shannan Chase! What potential for puns!
The fun lasted for 64 minutes on the field, Chase involved in everything, of course. Finally he was substituted for Jason Shoemark; the future giving way to the past. And then something funny happened. He didn't sit down. Not for the rest of the game. He just stood on the sideline, wide-eyed and flushed with adrenalin, his baptism complete. The southerly rain stung his face as the sounds of the McLean Park crowd washed over him: sweet benediction. 41-nil on the scoreboard: Beatification.
After the game he spoke of his family and of his fans at the end of the ground, and how proud he was to be representing Hawkes Bay. There was no script here, just nerves. He is painfully shy - any quieter he'd be mute. Coach Craig Philpott says that afterwards, when the fans had finally drained away from the park, and the team sat in the concrete changing shed under the stand, Chase sat there in silence, "a possum in the headlights" was how he described him.
He had only been called in for the week. Injury had meant he had to pass up a chance to trial for the team earlier in the year and now it was an injury to his club teammate Mikey Vuicakau that had opened the door again; that had allowed him a debut in a Ranfurly Shield game. Perhaps he was simply contemplating the complexity of the universe's strange arrangements. That is a pursuit that deserves a man's full attention.
Later still, at the after-match function, Shannan Chase excused himself from his teammates. He told them he had to find coach Danny Lee. First-five Ihaia West, Chase's Havelock teammate and driver of choice to last week's trainings, looked at him quizzically. "What do you need him for?" He asked.
"I just want to know if he needs me for next week," was his response. And off he went.
Tomorrow the Magpies face their next shield challenge: Bay of Plenty come calling at 2.30pm sharp. They'll come with a convoy for a crack at the log. It's been 10 years since they took it home with them.
I ask coach Craig Philpott if Shannan Chase, the kid from OT, will be in the side. He just laughs.
"Sumo, I'd be the most hated man in Hawkes Bay if I didn't pick him."
I don't know about that, but it would certainly be hard to get a beer in the one pub in Otane.