Rugby: Hawkes Bay's flair 'all about doing the homework'

An unscientific show of hands will do for this: outside your own province, which is your favourite one to watch among New Zealand's other 25 teams?

It's a fair bet a large percentage will plump for Hawkes Bay. After all, they have made the semifinals of the Air New Zealand Cup in each of the past two seasons playing vibrant, pacy rugby which has plenty to admire about it.

They won seven of their 10 games last season, then tipped over Waikato in the quarter-finals before losing to eventual champions Canterbury. Last week, they carried on where they left off last year, turning over Auckland 47-13 and playing with a rare gusto and a fair dose of rugby smarts too.

Talk to their coach Peter Russell about the subject of entertaining rugby and his team and he doesn't take the easy option. He equates entertainment in simple terms with razzle dazzle - "and we're not a razzle dazzle team," he said yesterday.

Russell will argue cogently that Hawkes Bay's successes come from plans being soundly executed, boxes being ticked from the week's work on the training pitch.

Take the young backline whiz kids, wing Zac Guildford and fullback Israel Dagg. They get plenty of publicity mileage for their deeds for the Bay. Their futures are undeniably bright.

But Russell, while not decrying their abilities, takes a wider view of things in outlining what could be read as a strategy sheet.

For him, entertainment comes in ways not immediately visible to the crowd. "It's about creating opportunities for others to score points," he said. "If it's from a turnover or set piece move that's been ticked off, that's where you get the entertainment side from.

"Those tries we've been scoring in the last two or three years are all because a plan has taken place and been executed well.

"Tryscorers like Zac and JK [wing Jason Kupa] are at the end of the food chain. Others have done the work but it's not immediately obvious.

"You get [flanker] Karl Lowe turning the ball over in every tackle, but right beside him are [fellow loose forwards] Michael Johnson, Thomas Waldrom and George Ngaoupu blocking the opposition so he can steal the ball. So you can see it's a holistic team try."

Having a high proportion of players stay in the region has helped in terms of having players familiar with the philosophy and the culture within the group.

He quipped that when players returned from their Super rugby franchises - or in the case this week of All Black lock Bryn Evans rejoining the squad - they need to be "brainwashed" to get them back into the ways of the Bay.

Russell, who achieved coaching success at Wairarapa-Bush before taking a step up in 2007, maintains the basic philosophy is simple: "Work hard, no short cuts. That's basically it.

"You come up with a plan and players buy into it. They get a taste of success through that and all of a sudden it's like a culture that stays.

"The players have to trust each other, believe in themselves that they can defend or attack, or change plans on the paddock in the shake of an eye.

"It's one of those things you hope your team can build on but it only comes with on-the-paddock experience."

The buzz for Russell and his staff comes when all the planning comes good in the game.

"We analyse it, draw it up on the board, do it at training and if it comes off at the weekend because we've signed everything off during the week, that's when the smiles come."

For much of his life, preparation has been essential. Russell worked in the world of high-voltage electricity, based in the Hutt Valley, before fulltime rugby coaching took over. He was responsible for a staff of about 90.

"There are exact parallels [with rugby coaching].

"You looked at life and death situations at work and everything had to be dotted and crossed otherwise you could lose a staff member. I transfer that over to this. Everything has to be dotted and crossed by the end of the week to get the performance you want."

PETER RUSSELL'S CV

Led Marist St Pat's to three Wellington senior club championships

2003: First season with Wairarapa-Bush
2004: Beaten in third division final by Poverty Bay
2005: Win third division final against Horowhenua-Kapiti
2006: Win Meads Cup (equates to second division title) against Wanganui
2007: Becomes Hawkes Bay coach, reach championship semifinals
2008: Reach semifinals again, losing 31-21 to Canterbury
2009: Appointed Highlanders assistant coach for Super 14