Chiefs v Highlanders: All Blacks lock Tupou Vaa’i on the art of emotion in rugby
Tupou Vaa’i does not make a secret of how he’s feeling on any given play.
Since making his Super Rugby debut in 2020, the Chiefs and All Blacks lock has emerged as one of the country’s best in the position, helping to lead a strong core at the Hamilton-based team.
But as he has grown and developed in the professional space, Vaa’i has never shied away from letting his emotions and pure enjoyment of the game show on the footy field.
“I guess sometimes that’s what your team needs and that’s just kind of my way of imposing myself into games. It’s just the passion that I have for this game and I guess the stuff that I work on during the week, when it comes out in games, that’s when I kind of celebrate it and yeah, just try to bring energy to the lads.”
Whether it’s banter with an opponent, hyping up a teammate or getting excited about a play he made himself, Vaa’i is regularly animated as he goes about his business.
The most recent instance came in last weekend’s clash with the Reds in Brisbane, when the 26-year-old ushered Reds prop Jeff Toomaga-Allen off the field after a yellow card.
“Just two Kiwi lads just going at each other,” he said.
“Obviously he got yellow-carded for that infringement in the ruck and, in my eyes, I thought he was trying to fight his case, but I had a feeling that he knew what he was doing, so I kind of just tried to show him where the naughty chair was and try to continue on the game.”
At the end of the day, whatever level you’re playing at, rugby is supposed to be fun.
“I feel like people take the game too seriously and, of course we’re trying to get results and whatnot, but the reason why we play the game is to have fun and just go out there and do what we’ve been training.”
The Chiefs came away from the contest against the Reds with a hard-fought win, moving them to 9-2 for the season with three games before the playoffs.
The Hamilton outfit have been building consistently throughout the season, which is their first with Jono Gibbes calling the shots as head coach.
Among the top contributors at lock over the past few years, Vaa’i has again been a core part of the Chiefs and has continued to grow into his role as a leader among the group.
Coming into the campaign, that was an area Vaa’i wanted to continue to develop.
“As a young lock I kind of was thrown into the deep end here, especially when Guzzler [Brodie Retallick] left, and that was something that I kind of really shied away from,” he said about having a leadership role in the team.
“But these last couple of years I feel like I’ve taken that role really seriously and [am] pretty glad that I had the likes of Jono [Gibbes] that was running our lineouts last year and then for this year, [I’ve] been working closely with Jarrad Hoeata, who’s been helping me pretty much my whole career really.
“I continue to just try to back it up each year, really. I guess that’s how the good players or the great players, that’s what they do, they back it up every year and I’m trying to follow their footsteps really.”
However, he said improving as a leader was not quite the same as improving as a player.
“The thing that comes to mind was understanding the game. When you understand the game, you can kind of direct your peers and have those conversations. That was one way. And then obviously you’ve got to do it first and then hope the players follow behind you.
“Then just having a voice. That was one of my big factors of leadership that I needed to improve; my voice was powerful in the group and yeah, just being able to use that.”
The Chiefs finish the regular season with derbies against the Highlanders, Crusaders and Blues, with the top seeding going into the playoffs on the line.
“These next few games are definitely going to set us up in the longer run,” Vaa’i said.
“We’ll definitely fight for that top spot, but that’s something that we haven’t really talked around in camp, which is probably a good thing. Ideally we’re just focusing on the Highlanders this weekend and so on and so on.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.