He’s the perfect professional in his preparation, a leader who is thoughtful in analysis
of the opposition and vocal on the field when tactics have to be changed – And Shaun
Edwards is not one to dish out praise lightly.


Riki Flutey is a coach’s dream. Full of self-belief, imagination and a naturally
gifted leader, it would come as no surprise if England backs coach Brian Smith was
the mole championing his conversion from All-Black to Red Rose. After all he was the
one responsible for bringing him to London Irish.

Although England are yet to see the same Flutey that picked up last season’s PRA Player
of the Year, there has been a few hints of his exceptional talents.

Born in Wairarapa and educated at the esteemed Maori boarding school, Te Aute College,
where his hero Norm Hewitt also got to grips with the oval ball, Saturday would be
the perfect stage to cement his position, coming up against chums, Richie McCaw and
Rodney So’oialo, with whom he won the U19 World Cup.

Can you describe your earliest memories of rugby?

“Growing up in New Zealand, rugby was the only winter sport at my school and it was
almost compulsory. I’ve been playing since I was four years old and I just loved watching
my father and older brother – when he was representing New Zealand in age-grade rugby
- those guys were my childhood heroes.”


Any bits of advice that stand-out?

“When I was seven, I used to get up in the morning and go for runs along the coast
because my older brother always said fitness was important.”

“On Friday night’s, I would always clean my boots and have my rugby kit set out next
to the fireplace ready to go for my game on Saturday morning. It was a tradition I
started from the age of 7.”



So rugby was a form of homework then?

“Yeah definitely. It was my life as a youngster. I remember going out and being ball
boy for my brothers at college and we’d always go and kick a ball around down by the
sea.”


Have you always been this studious?

“I just immersed myself in the game at every opportunity. I’d go and watch my father’s
training sessions on Tuesday and Thursday nights and overload on rugby moves and calls
as much as possible.”

And has that continued at Wasps? Shaun Edwards says you think like a forward…

“I’m constantly joining in with the bigger boys. If I was 20 KG’s heavier, I would
love to play in the back-row or the front-row.”

Has rugby become too structured?

“At this level there needs to be structure but within broken field play, you play
what you see in front of you. There is still a lot of room for structure because when
you do break things down, you play rugby like a game of chess. You try and set things
up for the next phase, because you know that if there’s an opportunity at the next
phase and if you get good quick ball, you can create things and exploit mismatches.
So there is definitely a time and place for game building.”

Do you think rugby is becoming an unforgiving place for the flair or instinctive
player?

“Coaches are there to give you a game plan and within that game plan they encourage
you to take risks and look for other opportunities.”

“As soon as a coach starts coming down on individuals, players go into their shells,
and I’ve always been the type of player that when I see that opportunity, when I take
a step or make a break, I’ll go ahead and do it. I know with all the patterns of play
we can get back onto the same page and what we want to achieve.”


How have you found it leading the back-line? Don’t you find reading play-books slightly
monotonous and over-complicating what is essentially a simple game?

“I just take those responsibilities upon myself and if I take one look at a pattern
or a play and understand it then the guys around me on the field will follow. We are
the guys that have it do it. No one at Wasps has ever told me to sit down and look
at plays on a computer, although I know it’s a big part of the game nowadays.”

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