Proud Maori ready to face mighty Munster challenge
Hoeft was a formidable prop and spent seven years in France with Castres and Toulouse, but it was in the Castres jersey in 2005/06 that he endured an unwelcome experience when they were mercilessly put to the sword by a great Munster team rampaging its way towards a first Heineken Cup triumph. In the first meeting at Thomond Park, Hoeft & Co were hammered 42-16. In the rematch in Castres, the margin in Munster’s favour was 46-9.
“That was in Thomond Park before it got fixed and it was a hard game,” recalled Hoeft, as he helped to run the rule over an extremely impressive looking bunch of Maori at UL yesterday.
“Back then, you had a great side with a lot of experience, Paul O’Connell, lots of other Irish players and Lions players and I remember the crowd; there are great supporters here and I think they eat, sleep, and breathe rugby. Very parochial. It’s more like New Zealand in that regard. I remember Peter Clohessy; didn’t he have a pub downtown? But I played mostly loose head and came up against a bald prop, John Hayes, a big man.”
Hoeft is from Hamilton and is assistant coach to the Waikato Mitre 10 Cup side and also helps out with the Chiefs Super Rugby side. In his playing days, he represented Thames Valley and Otago for 10 years. After that, came the seven-season stint in France.
“I then returned to New Zealand with my family and took up a coaching role with Waikato,” he says. “Colin Cooper, the Maori All Blacks head coach, asked if I would like to be involved. That was three years ago.”
When I put it to Hoeft that physicality is invariably the word that comes to most rugby people’s minds when the Maori are mentioned, he deflected the question nicely: “There is a lot of skill in this group. The hard part about it is the limited preparation time, but the natural flair they have comes through. We are hoping for a good open game with Munster. Munster are a very good side and, even without some of their international players, they are very well drilled and will be a big challenge.”
Hoeft spoke happily of the rich tradition that exists between the rugby people of New Zealand and Munster: “Well, of course, they have beaten the All Blacks and probably should have beaten them a few years ago, as well, so our guys understand that they are going into a rugby stronghold and, to be fair, if you have to play an overseas team, this is a great place, one of the best in the world.
“I’m of Tonga/Cook Island heritage and Tana Umaga and a few other members of the management team are not Maori, but head coach Colin Cooper is Maori, trainer Brad is Maori and all the players must have Maori blood in them and are able to trace their ancestry.
“This game is massive in the context of the reputation of the Maori as a rugby force. The boys have a lot of pride in the jersey and who they are representing. We only have a small programme, three matches in all, although we have another next year against the Lions, whom we have beaten in the past, but this is a new team and it’s like Munster, holding onto a massive tradition.”
Winger James Lowe is one of a number of Maori players on whom Munster will have to keep a very close eye. He is one of a number of players in the group hotly tipped as an All Black of the near future and he certainly added to a growing reputation by scoring two of the eight tries in the 54-7 win over the US Eagles last Friday.
“Hopefully, we can bring the expansive type of rugby that we played against the US into Friday night’s game,” said Lowe, who spent much of Monday afternoon cycling around the streets of Limerick with several other Maori.
“But Munster are a whole new beast and have a lot of strengths that we need to combat. I remember a few years ago watching live on TV back home when Doug Howlett did the Haka and that remains fondly in my memory. We were fortunate to get along to the Ireland/All Blacks game and it was an awesome atmosphere. Credit where credit is due, Ireland deserved that win.”
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