Alex Nankivell's journey of discovery has led him to Munster

Nankivell went about solving a family mystery and finding his genetic grandfather when New Zealand came to a halt for a second time with Covid lockdowns.

EYES ON THE BALL: Alex Nankivell training with Munster. Pic Credit ©INPHO/James Crombie

Some people spent Covid lockdowns learning to bake. Others wrote books and blogs. Munster’s Alex Nankivell went about solving a family mystery and finding his genetic grandfather when New Zealand came to a halt for a second time late in 2021.

His dad Kim, who had been adopted, had always identified as Maori. Alex still isn’t sure exactly how he knew, but he did, and it was also known “through the grapevine” that Kim’s birth mother was somewhere in Auckland. Even that was a leaf blowing somewhere in the wind.

Kim’s birth mother wasn’t Maori and his birth father’s name wasn’t on his birth certificate so, while Alex was welcomed into the Maori All Blacks squad for a debut in 2019, it “just didn’t sit right” that he couldn’t fully trace his actual roots.

“So I did a DNA test of all things,” he explained at Munster’s high-performance centre in Limerick this week. “It came back that I was Maori, which was great. It made that feeling go away of ‘maybe I am an imposter here.’”

That part he did without telling his father. Fast forward to the back end of the pandemic and he decided to run through an email with his DNA matches. There were thousands of names on it but he somehow found Kim’s birth mother who in turn provided the dad’s name.

Trevor Coe. Cue more detective work.

Nankivell eventually found a woman with the same last name, took more encouragement from her family tree, messaged her and got one back a few days later with another link in the chain. That in turn led to another. Eventually they tracked him down.

“There were all these crazy things. If I hadn’t been scrolling just randomly one day, it’s crazy, eh? We ended up getting in touch with them and met them. Then we all went to the marae. How it works is that you have a tribe, it’s called an iwi in New Zealand.

“That covers a big area in New Zealand and then you’ve got the sub-tribe, it kind of gets smaller, and you have the marae, which is pretty much the community area, the house where the family meets and things like that.

“So we went there, the whole family. We hadn’t met them all so we met a few of them there again. That’s where our ancestry comes from, which is pretty cool. Dad loved it. He said after everything had concluded that it was one of the best things that’s happened to him.”

Munster Rugby Squad Training, UL, Limerick.

That same persistence could have cost him his chance with Munster.

Player and club first spoke late in 2021 when Johann van Graan was in charge but he was still wedded to the Chiefs and the idea of playing for the All Blacks. That was changing by the time he faced Ireland with the Maoris the following summer.

Nankivell dropped a few lighthearted hints when sharing a beer with Craig Casey, Niall Scannell and Gavin Coombes after the game in Wellington and selection for the New Zealand ‘A’ side that beat Ireland in the RDS a year ago didn’t make him feel much closer to the Test arena.

He said as much in an interview in New Zealand earlier this year when reckoning that there were half-a-dozen players ahead of him in the All Blacks queue so, with due diligence already done, the Munster deal happened quickly at the start of 2023.

There were other options. Sale and Bordeaux both made overtures but he was always leaning towards Limerick and Ireland. Rhys Marshall, who had spent five years with Munster, had given the two-time European champions a glowing recommendation.

The decision rested even easier when he bumped into Doug Howlett in an Auckland bar and he heard another glowing first-person report. Then John Ryan pitched up at the Chiefs with more local and recent insight into the province.

He was ready to come, but ready to go, too.

Nankivell had been at the Chiefs just shy of a decade and, though the All Blacks were tracking him via some indirect chat with his club coaches and links with the team physio, doctor and nutritionist, it was still hard to know where he was with them.

“When you get out to travel and play rugby and experience different cultures you realise there are so many other opportunities to challenge yourself as a rugby player and as a person and meet new people. That was a part of it too.”

He knows exactly where he stands with Munster.

There were nerves coming over, and he was on his own, but he found a home from home in a house with Paddy Patterson and Alex Kendellen. Coffees and lunches in Adare and Killaloe with the wider squad have further facilitated a quick integration process.

“I’m not stuck at home twiddling my thumbs by myself.” That’s the chunk of iceberg below the water line. His time at Munster will be judged ultimately by what people can see on the pitch and he impressed with his five appearances before a slight injury forced him onto the sidelines for last weekend’s loss to Leinster.

He is 27 now, entering his prime, and with a versatility that offers options in both midfield slots and on the wing. Adapting to the defensive shape has been the main challenge so far. That and a few details in the attack that will get easier with time.

A Christchurch boy, Nankivell said earlier this year that he wouldn’t turn down the chance to play for Ireland if he was still here in five years and eligible to play but he’ll be 31 then and the focus for now remains resolutely on big days in red.

And the Champions Cup is just around the corner.

“It would be awesome to get an opportunity. Everyone I talked to always says to look forward to a sold out Thomond Park and the European games: the challenge of playing a team from France who you don’t know a whole lot about.

“You get to watch some of their rugby but you haven’t really played those teams before, and a different style of rugby. I guess coming over here, that’s the kind of challenge you want as a rugby player. It will be an awesome experience.”