Caleb Clarke of the All Blacks
looks on during the 2020 Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup match between the Australian Wallabies and the New Zealand All Blacks. Photo / Getty Images.
Caleb Clarke of the All Blacks
looks on during the 2020 Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup match between the Australian Wallabies and the New Zealand All Blacks. Photo / Getty Images.
Caleb Clarke has revealed the source of his speed and leg-driven power – a former athletics coach who competed at the Seoul Olympics.
Since breaking into the Blues last year Clarke has been a revelation on the left wing. A 2020 season in which the 21-year-old was supposed to competeat the Tokyo Olympics with the New Zealand sevens team instead peaked with him ripping the Wallabies to shreds at Eden Park in his first start for the All Blacks.
Such was the trail of destruction Clarke left that memorable day, comparisons to the late, great Jonah Lomu were instant.
Clarke is a similarly physically gifted athlete – the size of his legs, hips and glutes providing power not out of place in the forward pack.
Yet physical gifts only bring rewards when regularly honed.
While many rugby players in the modern age tend to focus on lifting weights, Clarke takes an alternate approach by getting out to the Trusts Stadium track in west Auckland whenever possible to rekindle the brutal athletics training regimes he endured from a young age.
Caleb Clarke of the Blues runs onto the field for the round three Super Rugby Aotearoa match between the Blues and the Highlanders. Photo / Getty Images.
"Athletics was a big thing for me in high school," Clarke tells the Herald as the Blues prepare to host the Crusaders at Eden Park on Sunday. "I had a trainer who ran in the Olympics and he was my coach from when I was 10 until about 20.
"I just keep doing the stuff he taught me because over 10 years I learnt how to run properly and do all the drills so now I can go out and do it by myself."
Attending Mt Albert Grammar, Clarke's specialist events were the 100 and 200 metres.
"I ran a 10.72 in high school. I haven't run that since – that was like 10kg ago, I was around 97kg when I did that. That was the last time I competed at a high level, now it's just rugby."
Clarke pays tribute to Peauope Suli, his former athletics coach who represented Tonga at the 1988 Olympic Games, and his tortuous training sessions for the speed and power he now possesses.
"He taught me the essence of working hard. I remember when I was 10 he didn't care if I was crying or vomiting he would make me run again if it was too slow," Clarke recalls.
"I would get a water bottle and pretend to vomit by spitting the water back out. He would still send me back to do it again. I hated those trainings but it taught me a real mental toughness.
Caleb Clarke of the All Blacks makes a break during the Bledisloe Cup match between the New Zealand All Blacks and the Australian Wallabies. Photo / Getty Images.
"He had this whistle he always blew. When you hear it, you felt like you were about to die. I owe a lot to him. His biggest dream for me was to one day watch me play for the All Blacks so I got to fulfil his dream for one of his kids he grew up coaching. They were like my second family - we would be at Trusts Stadium every second day.
"Every summer holiday we would be at the track every day. Mondays were the hard day. We would be running 300s. Wednesdays were in between and Fridays were our short days. Tuesday and Thursday were stretching and drills.
"That's what taught me how to run properly, doing all that as a kid into a teenager and now I can translate that into rugby."
These days Clarke doesn't bother with heavy upper body weight sessions frequently used by other players as he does not want any additional bulk. He instead focuses on power through Olympic lifting techniques and explosive work such as box jumping.
The track, though, will always hold a special place in his heart.
"I still have the same warm-up. That takes about an hour-and-a-half and then it will be pure speed stuff so 120s, 110s, 90s, 70s, 60s. I run one each, fully recover, run another to fully remind my legs how fast they can go because when you run on grass it slows you down.
"It's working alongside the trainers here to see when I can go back to the track. I don't want to do the track too much and blow out on the training field so it's about getting a mix of both worlds."
