The All Blacks’ first match after a defeat is a sufficiently rare event to raise expectations at the best of times, but for Jerome Kaino this weekend’s date with the Barbarians will be particularly special. The veteran flanker is set to return to the fold after his extramarital affair became public in August, and he does so against the same opposition and at the same ground as when he made his All Blacks debut in 2004.
“It’s where it all started for me, here at Twickenham against the Barbarians,” he said. “But also because I haven’t had as much footy as I’d have wanted recently, the possibility of having a run in the black jersey is extra special.”
Kaino’s immaculate career as an All Black was interrupted dramatically in the buildup to New Zealand’s Rugby Championship opener against Australia. He was dropped for that match when the All Blacks management became aware of his affair with a former Australian model. Eyebrows were raised at the decision, with the 81-cap stalwart of two World Cup-winning campaigns having played a full part in the Lions series, but the full picture soon emerged.
“Devastated,” the mother of his three kids, Diana, wrote on social media, while the former model was described by a friend as crushed at the news of his marital status. Kaino was sent home from Sydney in disgrace and agrees that the intervening period has been the hardest of his career.
“Yeah, I’d say so, but the team and coaches have been awesome. It has been tough, but I’ve been able to deal with that away from footy and the All Blacks. The union have been great throughout that time. It’s going to take a lot time, but I’ve been able to use rugby as an escape to hopefully focus on something else when I’m away from that. The team and coaches have been really helpful and supporting. There have been a lot of lessons. Obviously I’m still working through a lot of things, but for me it’s about focusing on footy now and hopefully I can take any opportunity that may come.”
It was an embarrassing time for the All Blacks, coinciding with fresh revelations about Aaron Smith’s tryst in an airport toilet the year before, which turned out to be the culmination of a two-year affair rather than the one-off incident he had insisted it was at the time. With a specially commissioned report uncovering a range of other culture problems at all levels of the game, New Zealand rugby was suffering far more off the field than ever it does on it.
Kaino missed the entire Rugby Championship as he tended to matters at home, although he was included in the wider squad for the last two legs. Nevertheless, true to form, the All Blacks waltzed to the title.
Now one might perceive a perfect storm approaching for the Barbarians on Saturday, for New Zealand’s performances have dipped sufficiently for them to have merely squeezed home against South Africa, in South Africa, in the dead rubber of their final match of the championship. As if that were not enough, they lost their now-traditional third Bledisloe Cup match to Australia the weekend before last, albeit with an experimental side.
Indeed, they have been in experimental mode for a while now, having left a number of key players behind for those final two legs of the championship as well – and they will be again this weekend, which should render Kaino’s return all the more timely.
“He’s been great,” says Ian Foster, the All Blacks assistant coach. “It was a mutual agreement that the time was right for him to come back in. We’ve made it tough for him, because it hasn’t been easy for him to get back in, but his attitude’s been outstanding. He’s done a heck of a job off the park, helping this team prepare, even if he wasn’t in the 23. He’s got a bounce in his step, and he’s pretty keen to play.”
As are the All Blacks, with that rare defeat to work out of their system. The Barbarians, albeit replete with 13 New Zealanders in the 26-man squad, cannot afford to adopt the customary festival approach for this one.
