Leinster speed king Ngatai wary of another spell in the pitlane 

29 April 2023; Charlie Ngatai of Leinster after his side's victory in the Heineken Champions Cup Semi-Final match between Leinster and Toulouse at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

Leinster’s Heineken Champions Cup semi-final with Toulouse was less than 90 seconds old when Charlie Ngatai took possession on his own try line and kicked through the gears, faking a pass before advancing out beyond his 22.

A quick pop to Jamison Gibson-Park followed, the scrum-half kicked long and within moments Ngatai was adding muscle to Jordan Larmour’s tackle of Juan Cruz Mallia, Antoine Dupont finally kicking clear and over the sideline.

Leinster were up and running and so was Ngatai.

The Kiwi hadn’t played for well over 100 days because of a hamstring injury, so one thing dominated his thoughts as he cantered nearly the length of the Aviva Stadium in that pell-mell opening.

“’Don’t get injured’. That’s what I was thinking. Just don’t pull anything. Hopefully the calf or the Achilles will hold. I think a few people, even my wife in the stands, was thinking that as well. The physios were thinking that.” 

In the team for the injured Robbie Henshaw, Ngatai went on to empty the tank with an impactful and consistent performance before being replaced after 53 minutes with the needle in the red and the tank next to emptied.

Ngatai’s week was, in that sense, his sporting life in a nutshell: talent and speed on display but with the hint of injury in the background. Fitness issues have slowed him down too often over the years.

His ability was recognised most obviously with his one cap for the All Blacks. The speed was apparent during his school days when he was good enough and fast enough to represent New Zealand at the 2007 Youth Olympics in Sydney.

He ran 11.42 in the B final of the 100m but his PB was somewhere in the range of the 10.9s. Athletics was always a junior partner to rugby, which was his first love, but it taught him lifelong lessons.

“I did a lot of training for that in the off-season in the year leading into the Youth Olympics. I made a lot of sacrifices and it sort of gave me a perspective on individual sport and team sport.

“Obviously you’re training on your own, you’re doing a lot of things on your own. The coach can only give you so much. I quite liked it and, from there, athletics kind of transferred into rugby. It certainly helped with speed and fitness.” 

Cricket was another potential path and he was good enough to play with some current New Zealand stars such as Tim Southee and Kane Williamson, both of whom have padded their career and their pockets with megabuck deals in the Indian Premier League.

Southee’s salary for a 2023 season with the Kolkata Knight Riders that lasts just two months comes to roughly €150,000. Williamson is reported to be bringing in around €220,000 with Gujarat Titans for the same April-May campaign.

Ngatai will have done well over four years in France with a Lyon side backed by wealthy benefactors, and his package at Leinster won’t be negligible, but he can laugh when asked if maybe the oval game might have proven more profitable than the oval ball.

“I pretty much played with all of them through my whole schooling years. A lot of them were good footie players as well, probably similar to myself, rugby and cricket, and they chose cricket. We played a lot of competitions together.” 

Williamson was a hybrid out-half/full-back, Southee a flanker, and their abilities across the codes were mirrored by Ngatai whose rugby ties were that bit stronger in a family where his father, uncles and cousins all played.

Next up for him and for Leinster are the Sharks in tomorrow’s URC quarter-final but the prospect of a return meeting with a La Rochelle side he knows well from his Top 14 days in a Champions Cup final later this month is in the back of everyone’s minds too.

“From when I was first there (in France) to now, they’ve definitely grown into a powerhouse team. They kick the ball well, they’re well-coached, they’ve got forwards who are powerful and speed out wide so definitely they’re a team to watch, a dangerous team.”