Not all glamour for family man Masoe

AH, IT’S tough being an All Black. Nearly two weeks they had to endure on the beach-front Sofitel Palm Beach hotel, getting ready for their World Cup opener against Italy in Marseille, before being whisked off 200 miles north by TGV to the old city of Lyon, and the luxury Mercure Perrache, where Portugal and another big win awaited.

Now they’re back down south again, in beautiful Aix-en-Provence, a couple of days R&R before preparations begin for Scotland in Edinburgh on Sunday. Their base? The 4-star Le Pigonnet Hotel, a luxurious 18th century Provencal country house, extended and enhanced (says the website) in the 1930’s. It has a ‘monumental gateway,’ ceramic and Genoese tile-adorned towers, beautiful shrub-filled, tree-lined formal gardens. It has a top-class restaurant, a heated outdoor swimming-pool (though with temperatures in the low 30’s, you’d think they’d have a cooled outdoor swimming-pool), it has a steam-bath and a ‘body-building’ room, not that these men need much more building.

Best of all though, says wrecking-ball of a backrow, Chris Masoe, is the fact that its all theirs, all 49 rooms of it.

“When we got here Sunday a couple of the boys went for a bike ride, had a look around, refreshed themselves. It was a relaxing day, good for us, and we have another day off again today. Normally we room in pairs but we’ve got our own room here which is pretty good. It’s a long tournament, seven weeks away; having a roomie for seven weeks wouldn’t help, but we’ve got our own rooms here now.”

So, no-one keeping you awake all night, night after night, with their ear-bursting snoring? Never a problem, smiles Chris. “If he does, just put a pillow on their face!”

Hard to credit, but this can be a tough time for the likes of Chris Masoe. He’s a family man, young kids; for most of us this is a huge carnival, a massive world sporting occasion that ranks only behind the Olympics and the soccer World Cup; for Chris Masoe, it’s work, it’s his job. The NZRFU isn’t spending all this money on these guys so they can have a good time; they’re spending big so that come the big games the players are ready, with no distractions, no stresses. Judging on results so far (and whatever about the 108-pt shellacking of Portugal, the win over Italy was hugely impressive), judging also on the current mien of guys like Chris, that investment is paying off.

“It’s going to be a long tournament,” he says; “Seven weeks; we’ve got two weeks done, another two weeks of pool games. The way we do it is to take one week at a time, that’s our focus; play the game, relax for a couple of days, then get the mind back in the game. You just look after the body,” he continues, explaining how he whiles away his days; “After a Saturday game, Sunday is about relaxing, trying to get the body right again for the next day, but the mind is always fresh, ready to go.” And how does he relax? “I watch a few movies, read a book – Scar Tissue at the moment, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, it’s good. Today we’ve got golf, tennis – I’ll probably go and hit a few balls. Sometimes I just sit out here and enjoy the sun because when we get back home there’s not going to be much of that! And I spend a bit of time talking to the kids on the phone. It’s hard for them, a long tour like this.”

Hard for you also? “Yeah it is, it’s quite tough, that’s probably our biggest challenge, being away from family, stuff like that.”

It’s all about trying to find the perfect balance between being too tense and too relaxed; in a tournament like this, where there is such a variation in the quality of the opposition, mental concentration is key, focus is paramount. First game it was Italy, duly dismantled; then it was minnows Portugal, again duly dismissed. This Sunday, it’s Scotland, in Edinburgh, going from one extreme to another. A shift in focus, but focus nevertheless. “It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we prepare the same way. You’ve still got to bring you’re A-game, you’ve still got to prepare professionally during the week, and that’s what we’ll be doing.”

Chris has had a taste of both Italy (sub for Richie McCaw) and Portugal, and will probably see action again this weekend. No shrinking violet himself, has he noticed how bulked up Scotland have become of late, the result, perhaps, of their own conditioning programme? “Maybe it’s the jerseys,” he counters, “The tight jerseys they wear now — the tighter the jerseys, the bigger they get!” And New Zealand wouldn’t resort to such low psychology? “No no, we all get the right size!”