Teams having phrases or motivating words is nothing new in
international sport, but New Zealand prop Willie Ioane has revealed
the secret weapon that he hopes will secure the Baby Blacks a third
successive IRB Junior World Championship title.
The philosophy is a simple but effective one and Ioane, the
only member of last year's winning side eligible to play in
Argentina this month, admits it has helped the squad to come
together as one both on and off the pitch.
"We've got this thing called the Wolf Pack and our
saying is the strength of the pack is the wolf and the strength of
the wolf is his pack. We've got like a mini saying 'Join
the Pack'," revealed the Manawatu prop.
Ioane explained that before leaving for the Litoral region of
Argentina, the squad read the book The Ultimate Gift, which through
its different chapters refers to the gift of family.
A family
"You don't need to be related through blood to be a
family," explained Ioane. "So if you compare that to our
team, it's just through love and from our team and from there
even when we set our plays on the field if you compare it to the
wolf, he doesn't go hunt as one, he goes as a pack.
"I think that's the ultimate thing as how we join
together and we didn't have that much time back in Auckland to
prepare, but it's just through our bonding that brought us
together and gelled us together that we're able to get as far
as we have so far.
"Someone always, always has your back. If one of the
boys are down, like when one of the boys was sent back because of
injury, all the boys were there, we all came together and wished
him well and hopefully he gets better soon. That's why you know
in the game against Wales, we did it for him. The tightness between
us, it's bonding us together."
The philosophy is not only used as a tool to foster the unity
among the 26-man squad off the field but also as a motivation
during matches, a phrase to pick a teammate up after a missed
tackle or to turn around a difficult situation in a match.
'Join the Pack'
"In the case that we have say one bad scrum then it just
takes one person to say 'Join the Pack' and from there we
all know what it means, so we just have got to lift our
performance. We know that we've got the brothers out there to
support us and from there we should be all right.
"It's on and off the field as well. Even if someone
misses a tackle we don't just fully tell them 'oh come
on', it's kind of like a confidence speech. So instead of
putting them down we go 'Join the Pack' … you know, hard
luck but you know we're there to support you. It's just
that brothers call."
The 20-year-old admits he was "like a kid in a candy
store" when he was presented with his winners' medal in
Tokyo last year following New Zealand's 44-28 defeat of England
and could take away Zac Guildford's mantle as the only player
to win two JWC titles.
"It was just like gold to be honest," Ioane said of
that success. "I was like a kid in a candy store. It was a
real privilege and honour to play in that final and good result to
come out champions at the end, just the memorable moments
you'll never forget, so hopefully we can come away again with
it again this year."
Physical test awaits
Before Ioane and the Baby Blacks can dream of being crowned
champions though, they have to overcome the challenge of South
Africa, a side harbouring ambitions of a first Junior World
Championship final appearance.
"It's going to be a big, physical game like always
and like all the other South African teams they're just going
to try and out muscle us and just try and give a head clash and you
know the boys are all ready for that, the physical match and
we've just got to front up and see how it goes.
"I enjoy the physical stuff and the scrums and that,
you've just got to get out there and give it all. Hopefully
just walk off knowing that you've given it your best and hope
that the coach is happy with your performance and especially your
team mates as well .
"So, just do your best and everything should gel
together."
