The day will come when Australian backrow Pete Samu repays the special gesture of former All Black Ryan Crotty when he first faced New Zealand.
There is always an elevated experience playing the All Blacks. It goes beyond the body-jolting contact and split-second skills on the field that will unfold in Thursday night’s Bledisloe Cup Test at Marvel Stadium.
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Playing in front of parents Iosefo and Ati, his broader family and friends in Melbourne is of huge significance.
Being a new dad himself means there is “a lot more to play for” because of partner Rebecca Van Kuyk, son Grayson and newborn London.
Melbourne is the home town where Samu’s first Rugby dreams flickered as a youngster for the Moorabbin Rams when he was happy being a very average Aussie Rules kid at Cranbourne Secondary College.
“My best skill was tackling even in Aussie Rules. I loved the contact so Rugby on weekends, rather than Aussie Rules at school, was my game,” Samu said.
Facing the All Blacks for the first time in Sydney in 2018 was a dream realised for Samu even if a chastening 38-13 loss was not part of the fairytale he had imagined.
Just months earlier, he’d shared a Super Rugby title with the Crusaders. Of course, he was going to search out former teammates like Joe Moody, Kieran Read and Sam Whitelock in the dressing room after the Test. Ryan Crotty was another.
“I went to swap my Wallabies jersey with Ryan. ‘Nah, you keep it. Take this’,” Samu recalled of the moment.
“It was a pretty cool thing for Ryan Crotty to do. He gave me his All Blacks jersey.”
Samu didn’t know it at the time but it was the same act that Tim Horan still treasures from his Test debut against the All Blacks at Eden Park in 1989.
Horan was spent from the action on the field when All Black Joe Stanley entered the Wallabies dressing room. He shook Horan’s hand, gave him a “well done” and then offered the 19-year-old his black No.13 jersey.
Horan actually wanted to keep his first Test jersey but felt more compelled to observe what was clearly a jersey-swapping tradition.
Stanley stopped him and told him he should keep that first gold jersey. Horan felt it said a lot about Rugby.
Ten years later, Horan had the chance to do the same when facing a young centre making his debut for Ireland at Ballymore. He duly presented his Wallabies jersey, with no suggestion of one in return. He gave his to Brian O’Driscoll. He had a fair career ahead of him.
“I still haven’t repeated the gesture yet. I’d like to give a jersey to someone I have a special connection with,” Samu said.
Facing the pre-Test haka for the first time is an event that nothing can prepare you for. You definitely don’t wink at the warrior challenge like the combative Sam Scott-Young once did. He copped a boot to the head in 1992 for that disrespect.
Samu’s experience was strange. He admitted he had to hide when he first faced the haka in 2018 but it had nothing to do with the intimidation factor.
Because he’d shed blood with his one-time Crusaders teammates so recently, eye-balling prop Moody was not the optimum move.
“I was trying to keep a straight face during the haka but I could see Joe Moody smiling at me. I had to sort of step in behind one of our tall boys so I didn’t have to look at him,” Samu said.
“Now, I’ll pick out someone and stare at them, until they are done, in a respectful way.”
Samu’s 26-Test run includes three losses and a draw against the All Blacks so beating the three-time Rugby World Cup champions is a burning ambition.
“Facing the All Blacks is always good. You know you have to be at your best because they have been great for so long,” Samu said.
“It’s always a tough battle and winning one of these tough battles is definitely a goal for me.”
Samu, 30, has developed into a valued and reliable Wallabies’ asset. Almost without exception, he has made an impact when hitting the game from the bench in 2022.
The opening Test of the year was the blueprint for the impact that coach Dave Rennie wants from his bench. All three Wallabies’ tries were scored by fresh arrivals into the game through Folau Fainga’a, Jordie Petaia and Samu in the 30-28 win over England in Perth.
The 103kg Samu has had to reprogram his thinking to embrace a rare bench role where he is coverage for all three backrow positions.
His agile stepping for his first Test try, his support play, his ability to scramble in defence, his jackalling, his dynamism and his game sense make it a more comfortable fit than it would be for many.
“Yeah. My role is utility in the backrow and adding value where I can whenever I come on. During the week I have to learn all three roles which is different,” he said.
“I’m probably on the laptops a bit more but I just go out there, back what I’ve learnt and just play footy."
Samu admitted he was “pretty raw “ and played “a lot of unstructured, off-the-cuff stuff” in his earliest first grade seasons.
The Rugby itinerant made the move to Brisbane from Melbourne to link with Wallaby winger Digby Ioane at his Sunnybank club in 2011.
There was a family connection from Ioane’s own Melbourne upbringing. The end result was Samu becoming a lodger at Ioane’s Brisbane home where the Wallaby welcomed Samoan youngsters from the Victorian capital.
“That was cool. I got to observe how Digby went about his routine. One thing I definitely remember was how professional he was doing stretches at home to prepare,” Samu said.
“For a young backrower, it was always exciting training next to or opposite (Queensland Reds) Liam Gill and Jake Schatz at Sunnybank.”
A move to Sydney club Randwick was a springboard into the NSW Waratahs’ wider training group, under coach Michael Cheika, in 2013.
When nothing more came of it, Samu made the bold move to test himself in New Zealand.
He made the most of his professional Rugby breakthrough with Tasman in NZ’s ITM Cup in 2014 because he’d forced his way into the Crusaders set-up by 2016.
Sharing in the Crusaders’ 2017 and 2018 title seasons put him on the radar and Rugby Australia lured him home. Those years in NZ created bonds that are strong to this day. He was a groomsman at Richie Mo’unga’s 2019 wedding.
When Samu and the Wallabies were stuck at a Christchurch hotel in 2020 in mandatory quarantine before the first COVID-era Bledisloe Cup series, who else would you phone?
Samu had the All Blacks flyhalf happily drop off a goody bag of food and toiletries outside the team hotel.
Samu knew how good Mo’unga would be before he was mainstream: “He’s very dangerous but that has come from how hard he works on his game.
“I saw the work he put in from the start. He can cut you up so not giving him time and space is a big thing.”
