Rugby's new pin-up: Richard Kahui

Tag : Sportwears Material

When Richard Kahui was six, his junior rugby team in Tokoroadeveloped a simple strategy: get the ball out to Richard, then takea break and watch him score.
"It worked all the time," recalls family friend DeniseHein, who is sports co-ordinator at Kahui's old school, Forest ViewHigh. "Just pass Richard the ball and away he went. His talentshowed up at a very early age."
Last weekend Kahui's early potential was being realised. In hisfirst international test since being named an All Black a monthago, he scored the first try. He attacked strongly, he defendedstrenuously, and in the dying minutes he violently cracked skullswith England's Mathew Tait, returning to Tait's side with clearconcern once he saw his opponent wasn't getting up fast.
"Good to see that rugby is still a game played by decentpeople," wrote a blogger on rugby website rucku.com under aphoto of the solicitous Kahui.
Other online commentators seemed more concerned that rugby is stilla game played by beautiful people. A slideshow of Kahui photosposted on YouTube is titled "The Sexy Richard Kahui".Viewers' comments include "wow" and "Yum!!!".
Little has changed, then, since Kahui's school days. "He was avery popular student with both the boys and the girls," saysHein. "He was a real boys' boy good at rugby and he has abrilliant sense of humour. But for the girls, of course, he was abit of a dreamboat."
Now Kahui has made the ABs he is looking like the complete package:the good-looking, high-performing, relatively articulate nationalhero (his post-match comments on Saturday were a cut above thestandard cliches) who's not afraid to cry (if his welling eyesduring the national anthem were a guide). No one has a bad word tosay about the man and, it seems, he has led a blameless life,complete with diligent and untrumpeted charity work for Waikato'sRainbow Place, a children's hospice service. Could Richard Kahui bethe new Dan Carter, underpants and sportswear endorsements and all?Can he be the next Toffee Pop boy when Carlos Spencer tires ofbiscuits?
Bryce O'Hearn coached Kahui from Under-19 to premier club level atWaikato club Te Rapa. He salutes Kahui's rugby talent, hismaturity, his humility, but he has also noticed the effect Kahuihas when he rips off his shirt on a hot day at the sevens.
"He's certainly well built. You can see women nudging eachother with their elbows. I can see why they use his face quite alot with promotional material with Waikato and the Chiefs.
"If you're feeling all right about yourself then he rocks up,it wrecks it a bit. I've got only one ab; he's got six. But he'snot a showman. If someone went up to him and said, `s---, you'vegot a hot body', he'd probably put his shirt back on."
When Kahui's father Sam first heard someone calling his son"the next Dan Carter" last week, he burst out laughing.Not that he doesn't see Richard's a good-looking boy, but"he's our son; you don't see him as that".
"Is he a star? No. He's an All Black. He got there on ajourney from whanau, from friends, from coaches, from thecommunity, and I don't think Richard will ever forget where that'scome from."
Kahui would have been about 11 when Sam took him to Auckland towatch Waikato play Auckland for the Ranfurly Shield. They werewalking on the Mt Eden pitch when Richard turned and said,"I'm going to play here one day". From that day, saysSam, Richard said he was going to be an All Black. He cut back hiscricket and touch rugby to avoid "burnout".
Later, there was a visitors' log at the house of Kahui's firstserious girlfriend, when he was 15, and he would always write"Richard Kahui, Future All Black".
Sporting genes came from both sides. Sam's uncle (also called Sam)was a player of great potential who died after breaking his neckduring a match in Te Kuiti in 1945. "He was in the same frameas Richard," says Sam. "Very good in defence and justloved a challenge." Photos show Uncle Sam was very handsome"the spitting image of Richard". Kent Lambert, an AllBlack from 1972 to 1977, is a cousin of Richard's mother, Trish.
There was always sport at the Kahuis'. Sam brought home scaffoldingposts from his job at Kinleith Mills and constructed goalposts outfront, including a crossbar at the regulation 3m height. As Richardgot bigger he'd jump the fence to practise kicks from theneighbour's.
Sam and Trish split when Richard was nine. There were a few tightyears as Trish raised Richard, his older sister Theresa and hisyounger brother Mark on her own (older brother Alan had left home).Sam moved to Rotorua then Hamilton, but stayed closely involvedwith the children, especially the Saturday sports runs.
In Rotorua, Richard would join Sam for midnight strolls. "We'djust walk along passing a rugby ball. He'd talk and kick the ballaround and eventually he'd say, `I'm going to bed now, dad',whatever time that was. He doesn't get that much shut-eye; a bitlike me."
Last Saturday, Richard Kahui didn't get any shut-eye until 6am,unable to sleep after the excitement of his first international.He'd been wound up before the game too. In Hamilton, where he flatswith his girlfriend Jane, fellow All Black Stephen Donald andChiefs lock Toby Lynn, he mows the lawn to take his mind off thingsbefore a match; in Christchurch there wasn't a mower to hand.
Sam and Trish and Trish's partner Ray were all there. His parentseach took a $10 bet on Kahui scoring the first try, winning $130apiece. Kahui's siblings, meanwhile, had taken personal bets withhim that he would cry during the national anthem, but lost just.
Kahui dined with the team after the match, taking his mother withhim. Trish told Denise Hein that Richard kept prodding her on theshoulder, saying "Mum. Mum. I'm an All Black. I'm an AllBlack!"
Last year Hein took the Forest View First XV up to Waikato stadiumand Kahui showed them around. He talked to the boys about comingfrom a small town and how you can still be successful. He wasearmarked for great things, says Hein, but he has remained veryhumble. He hasn't forgotten where he came from.
Last week Tokoroa returned the favour. Trish delivers milk forTokoroa's Anchor distributor and on Monday her delivery took twohours longer than usual, as everyone took time to pass on theircongratulations to Richard, or in some cases, to ask if they couldmeet him. Trish is enormously proud and anxious not to embarrassher son, but she confessed that "the women in Tokoroa aregoing crazy".
Kahui already knows about the unwanted attention that can come witha high profile, says his father. "We had a chat last year andhe said `you know, it would be nice if they just liked me for who Iam'." But that's the next dilemma of becoming an All Black,says Sam. "That's the next thing he has to come to termswith."
If Richard takes the Dan Carter route of product endorsement and soon, says Sam, so be it. "It's all ka pai for the Kahuis. Hissister will still see him as a dork; I'll still see him as a son,and he'll still play out on the front lawn with the nephews andnieces. It would be just part of the journey really, eh?'
Richard Kahui, 23
Vital statistics:
1.86m, 95kg Born: Tokoroa, June 9, 1985 School: Forest View HighFormer rugby club: Te Rapa Teams: Provincial Waikato, Super 14Chiefs, All Blacks Nicknames: Flapper, Kaks Personal: Lives withgirlfriend and two friends in his Hamilton house. Qualifiedbuilder. Maori father Sam is an adult student at WaikatoUniversity; Pakeha mother Trish is a milk-truck driver in Tokoroa.Three siblings in Tokoroa and Australia. Not related to notoriousSouth Auckland Kahuis. In his own words: "People think thatbecause I put a bit of wax on my hair that I might be a snappydresser but it's definitely not the case. I'm a jeans and T-shirtguy." "I'm lucky I can eat what I want and not put onweight." "I think I don't read much because I'm too hyperand don't like sitting down for too long I'm borderline ADD."(From player diary, www.allblacks.com)