Atiga full of surprises

By SCOTT MacLEOD

When little Ben Atiga arrived at the Auckland under-14 rugby trials as a pre-teen, the coaches thought he was wasting his time.

Within 10 minutes, those same men knew they'd found a star.

After taking his first catch, Atiga took a huge sidestep, jinked past two opponents and fed his outside backs.

It was "just brilliant", one of the coaches, Grant Hansen, said yesterday.

Atiga, 20, almost completed his climb through the ranks this weekend when called up for the All Blacks World Cup squad..

The Auckland team had barely arrived in Dunedin for the NPC semifinal when Atiga was told he was an All Black and was heading back to Auckland.

He was met on Saturday morning by his "pretty excited" father, Fred, who had heard the news on the radio.

A few hours later Ben was off to Melbourne.

Fred Atiga said the callup had been a great thrill for the family.

"It's been sudden, a surprise, and Ben's over the moon."

Auckland-born Atiga's swift rise was less of a surprise to his coaches.

Mr Hansen, who also coached Atiga at Auckland Grammar, said he had achieved the rare feat of making the first XV as a fourth-former.

"He's a great team player," Mr Hansen said. "He's individually brilliant, with an incredible sidestep, and his first instinct is to counter-attack."

Two former All Black coaches yesterday rated Atiga highly.

Laurie Mains said he was skilful and a powerful runner. Fred Allen was impressed by his ability to sidestep off both feet.

Atiga has a fine rugby heritage - a grandfather and great-grandfather played for Samoa and he is related to top players Joe Stanley, Jeremy Stanley and Charles Reichelmann.

He has already toured overseas with age-group sides. He returned from a Colts tour to South Africa last year with a black eye after squad members were attacked outside a Johannesburg nightclub.

Atiga can play second-five, centre, wing and fullback, which may have appealed to the All Blacks. He also kicks goals.

But he might be wise to keep quiet about his favourite player.

Atiga rates Christian Cullen as this nation's best fullback.

That might not go down well with coach John Mitchell, who is embroiled in a spat with Cullen.

Benjamin Atiga

Born: May 5, 1983, Auckland

Position: fullback, wing, centre, second-five

Height: 1.75m. Weight: 93kg

Progress: Auckland Grammar first 15 (1998), Auckland secondary schools (2000), NZ secondary schools (2000), NZ under-19 (2001), NZ under-21 (2002), Auckland NPC (2002),

All Blacks (2003).