A Blue Crusade
THERE IS always a fine line between being brave and being stupid. That’s
why some of the Canterbury faithful will insist, probably until their
last breath, that Stephen Brett was the latter. There will be times,
too, in the course of this season where Brett himself may feel he has
made a mistake in joining the Blues.
He’s a Cantabrian by birth, has lived and breathed Christchurch’s smog
for all his 24 years and has felt the very fabric of the Crusaders
jersey gripping to his heart. Even in the professional age where money
is so often the determining factor in where individuals wash up,
deleting a lifetime of passion, belief and heritage is not a quick or
simple business.
Monday, 29 March 2010
Emotionally, Brett still has feelings for the Crusaders. The relationship has been given space rather than having ended. He came north in the draft and will still play for Canterbury this year.
He has the professionalism to love the one he is with, but the Crusaders are still the one that he wants. Inevitably, given that depth of emotion, there will be pangs of regret during the season. He will ache for what he knows; his old life, the familiarity of the Cathedral City. Even the Wizard might come to mind in sporadic bursts of nostalgia - not as an unexplainable oddity, but as something homely; something undeniably and proudly Christchurch.
There will be a sharper, professional jealousy at other times. The uber-efficient Crusaders, one shocker against the Reds aside, are certain to plough through the rest of their campaign with their compelling mix of brain and brawn. The belief and confidence never wavers at the Crusaders. They have a brand of football that works; a team culture that works and an admirably relentless commitment to consistency of performance.
They have rising stars, solid old timers and of course, Richie McCaw and Dan Carter.
The Blues, in recent times at least, have been the antithesis of the Crusaders. They are entirely random - as likely to lose to the hapless Reds as they did last year then beat the Stormers in Cape Town. Their football is variable and instinctive. Some days they cut loose and are unstoppable; on others they kick possession away and try to grind. The team culture is not ingrained in the same way as the Crusaders’ is. The Blues don’t ooze that same irrepressible spirit. They don’t relish being backed into a corner as their old foes do.
The Cantabrians are surely right, then - Brett has been stupid in his decision to come to the Blues? Absolutely not. There might well be 99 reasons to have stayed at the Crusaders but there is one gigantic, mother of all reasons to have shifted north - the presence in Christchurch of Mr D. Carter.
“When DC [Carter] came back [from Perpignan] he was always going to start,” says Brett. “I had a clause in my contract that said if Daniel was at the Crusaders then I was allowed to be put in the draft. I could have looked at playing in another position. I have played at both 12 and 15 and I have enjoyed them both, but I want to have a really good crack at being the best first five I can be.”
And the only way Brett could fulfill his ambition was to move his light north so it could escape from under Carter’s bushel. The easy thing would have been to stay in Christchurch and warm the bench each week. There would have been glory by association and lots of talk about all he was learning.
But rugby is not a game where greatness can be achieved vicariously. Craft has to be honed, particularly that of a first five, through time in the jersey. Of all the positions on the rugby field, first five is the one where the textbook can only go so far. The rhythm of a game has to be felt; tactical control has to be learned from practical experience and timing; vision and confidence built by repetition. Consistency of selection can make or break a promising first five which is why last year All Black coach Graham Henry stated his view that either one of Brett or Colin Slade should move away from the Crusaders.
“Obviously Daniel is secure and for the guys to move on in the game and see how good they’re going to be ... I think when they’re blocked they have to make good decisions about what they do,” said Henry.
“I think it’s important young footballers look at their situation and say ‘okay’ their loyalty is one thing but it can be misplaced. There’s been players in New Zealand in the past that have had a lot of loyalty to a particular province, they haven’t moved and fulfilled their potential.”
It was effectively a challenge to one of them to show they were brave - that they were not prepared to sit in their comfort zone. Henry actually said it in July, when Brett had been called into the All Blacks as emergency cover for Stephen Donald and Luke McAlister who were both injured at the time.
That stint with the national team gave Brett a taste of what could be and he knew he had to show the selectors that he was prepared to make sacrifices to achieve his goals. “They didn’t say to me that I had to move or tell me where I had to move to,” says Brett. “What they said was that they felt I needed more game time if I was going to keep improving and challenging myself.”
He knew they were right. Unfortunately, Canterbury and the Crusaders were less certain and didn’t give him up easily. It made for a frustrating few weeks for Brett as he was powerless in the face of the administrative wrangling. It all worked out, though, and he might as well now have a sticker on his shirt saying ‘game time’. It is the answer to everything. That’s why he’s at the Blues and not the Crusaders. That’s why he crossed the great divide and became only the second professional player - the other being Ali Williams - to have travelled south to north and swapped the Crusaders for the Blues.
“I’m actually really loving it,” he says of living in Auckland. “I thought the traffic was going to be really bad and I thought it was going to be a big, scary, unfriendly place. But I don’t drive at busy times and everyone has made me feel welcome. Really welcome.
“I’m in the same block of flats as the three Wellington boys [Daniel Kirkpatrick, Serge Lilo and Alby Mathewson] and that has worked out really well. I’m upstairs on my own because I have family coming up to watch games and my partner, too, so it was easier like that. We are hanging out, getting to know Auckland and it has been a lot of fun.”
He says it with a hint of surprise, as if he had low expectations for how life would be in the City of Sails. Which is in contrast to Carter, who was the original target for the Blues No 10 jersey. Carter was tempted because Auckland is his kind of city. He has a house and partner here as well as business interests. It’s not so much a home away from home as a home these days. Off the field, Carter is more Auckland than Christchurch. But on it, he’s totally Christchurch. He plays low error rugby. He plays to a design. He understands structure and the concept of wearing opponents down with accuracy. His game has a foundation of efficiency but is finished with the most sublime touches.
Brett, on the other hand, hasn’t the same worldly edge as Carter. He’s more of a home boy. Christchurch suits him just fine. It’s what he knows and what he loves. But on the field, he’s way more Auckland and this is where the debate lies – is he the perfect fit for the Blues or a disaster waiting to happen?
In the early rounds he’s been a bit of everything. He scored a superb try with his first touch against the Hurricanes, where his pace was just too much for their defence. There was more magic throughout the first 40 minutes until the second half saw him throw an intercept and lose his kicking range.
He was mixed, too, against the Highlanders the following week although less variable, while against the Reds, he started the game by chipping the ball straight to Will Genia who went all the way down the other end.
This is Brett, though. He’s a player of instinct and he’s also a player of immense natural talent. Of all the young hopefuls coming through, he strikes as the most talented. He’s the one that can carve open a defence with his running. He has a bag of tricks, not as bulging as Carlos Spencer’s, but there a few in there. He can kick and control the game and he has confidence.
The downside is that he can’t resist trying what comes naturally. He just can’t curb his instincts and that means he makes mistakes. Sometimes he takes on too much risk and it can be costly.
What to do, though? There is a danger in trying to coach out his flaws that the instincts aren’t so much dulled as removed entirely. History shows that’s possible – mercurial Scots first five Gregor Townsend was similar to Brett until he had every natural thought coached out of him in an effort to bring down his error count.
Really, the only way Brett is going to learn the value of reducing his risk-taking is by playing more. Since he burst on to the scene in 2007 as a replacement for the reconditioning Carter, he’s never had an extended run at No 10.
There have been injuries and there has been Carter. His move to the Blues has given Brett, for the first time, consistency of selection in his chosen position. “I’m really finding the value of that,” he says. “When you play more so many things improve. You see more things on the field, your eyesight gets better, your timing gets better and the confidence grows from that.
“The move up to Auckland has been everything I thought it would be in terms of the challenges on the field and there is no substitute for game time.”
What shouldn’t be lost in the debate surrounding Brett is the obvious improvement he has already made at the Blues. He doesn’t fall to pieces when things don’t go his way and his positive contributions have easily outweighed the mistakes he has made.
Where the Blues are now compared with where were they last year – there is simply no comparison. Brett has been good for them. He’s not the perfect player by any means. He’s not delivered perfect performances either.
What he has delivered is enough quality to get the job done in a couple of tough venues. Blues coach Pat Lam has twice stated how impressed he has been with the on-field leadership of Brett.
Against the Highlanders and Reds the Blues were under pressure and in danger of succumbing to home sides that were building momentum at the right time. What Lam saw was a young first five coming of age – with Brett impressing with the way he stayed tactically aware and pushed his side back into the right parts of the field and didn’t panic.
So far at least, Brett has been a good acquisition for the Blues who don’t have to benchmark him against Carter; they are making comparisons with the likes of Tasesa Lavea and Jimmy Gopperth.
