Behind the Fern Ep 5: All Blacks begin historic South Africa tour
Behind the Fern Episode Five: All Blacks depart for historic South Africa tour
Episode five of Behind The Fern follows the All Blacks from a squad send-off in Auckland to a street welcome in Cape Town, as the team departs on its first full tour of South Africa in 30 years.
All Blacks Head Coach, Dave Rennie has expanded his Nations Championship squad from 34 to 44 players for Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, which includes three Tests and four provincial matches in South Africa and the final All Blacks v South Africa Test in the United States.
Legends share their experience
“Just remember who they are. They’re All Blacks. They’re not over there alone, they’ve got every form of player behind them,” All Blacks legend (toured to South Africa in 1996) Ian Jones said, speaking to media before the squad departed. “This country is very connected to the All Blacks. They’ve got five million other people with them. Just remember what that jersey demands of them, and just do our talking on the field.”
Former All Blacks Coach John Hart, who led the team on its last full tour of South Africa in 1996, then addressed the squad directly.
“The whole principle of our tour was one team,” Hart said. “You need to have your fun together, you need to pull together right through. Enjoy your time, enjoy yourselves, work really hard, because you're going to face the best in the world and it's going to be tough. But boy, what an opportunity.”
Among the new faces welcomed for the first time are uncapped prop Siale Lauaki, first-five eighth Josh Jacomb and loose forward Semisi Ta’eiloa. They’re joined by returning All Blacks Ollie Norris, George Bell, Fabian Holland, Ethan Blackadder, Timoci Tavatavanawai, Rieko Ioane and Emoni Narawa.
Spending time with the community
Before flying out, the squad visited Birkenhead Primary, where roughly 480 pupils turned out to meet the team as part of an initiative with ‘Mitey’ a school-wide mental health education programme, founded by All Blacks legend, Sir John Kirwan.
Put on the spot by the kids, Emoni Narawa admitted an unlikely talent: “I’m a really good singer. Like, really good.” Josh Jacomb added, “I’m a good baker, I like baking." Asked what they don’t enjoy about touring, one of the pair said simply: “You got to leave your family at home, so yeah, probably that.”
“It was good morning here at Birkenhead School,” Damian McKenzie said afterwards. “We talked to a few of the year two and three students about being brave. It’s always nice to come to these small community schools and put a smile on their faces.”
On the way to South Africa
From there it was three flights and roughly 24 hours of travel to Cape Town, with the team doctors, nutritionists and physios working to manage jet lag along the way.
“South Africa’s 10 hours behind, and we’ve basically got three jobs,” All Blacks Team Doctor, Dr. James McGarvey explained.
“We want to manage the flight, the actual travel. We want to shift our sleep pattern, and then overall we want to shift our body clock. Once we shift our body clock to South Africa, that’s when we return to 100% performance, physically and mentally.”
The reception in Cape Town lived up to expectations, the team was welcomed with singing and dancing before settling in for their first training session in South African heat.
There's plenty more in the full episode that doesn't make it into this recap, the in-flight banter over whose “private jet” the squad was really flying on for the final leg into Cape Town, the school visit in full, and the team's first look at the city that will host the opening match of the tour.
