Messam vows to make most of All Blacks recall

BY MARC HINTON IN MILAN

Last updated 10:53 10/11/2009

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All Blacks v Wales

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The All Blacks take on Wales at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in the start of their northern hemisphere campaign.

All Blacks win in Cardiff

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SECOND CHANCE: Liam Messam rests during All Blacks training.

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Liam Messam knows exactly where to look each week for the inspiration he needs to rebuild his test career with the All Blacks.

It's there every big test match Saturday wearing that black No 7 jersey, leading the team, leading the haka, in fact leading the charge in so many ways.

As Messam looks to make the most of his second chance in the national squad, and meet the challenges that have been laid at his feet by his coaches, the talented Waikato loose forward looks at Richie McCaw and sees the standard he must aspire to.

"I've really just been watching Richie the last couple of weeks, the way he plays and the way he presents himself as a person and player," said Messam as the All Blacks swung into their test match week in this Italian fashion capital. "Watching him inspires me a bit to be like him."

If imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, then Messam is paying the All Blacks skipper the ultimate tribute, though he confesses that for now he's not to keen on the No 7 role.

"He gets beaten up every week -- the position he gets his body into is unreal... I feel sorry for opensides in test match footy as they get bashed around a bit.

"I'm not sure how he does it. He's probably one of the hardest men I've seen -- him and Brad Thorn every week they put their bodies on the line for that jersey."

Messam is likely to get the chance to take his own punishment this weekend at the San Siro, with the All Blacks' "dirty-dirties" almost certain to get the call to action. That won't be confirmed till team naming on Wednesday (early Thursday NZ time) but Messam is certainly keen on some game time - and a third test cap -- at the famous football stadium.

"There's a lot of excitement and the boys are pretty keen to get out there and have a run," he said. "Before the tour people got told they were going to get a crack, and hopefully I get mine this week. It's a pretty awesome city and awesome stadium."

And Messam, whose problem calf is now "100 per cent", said he's taking a pretty clear focus into this week.

"When you do get the opportunity you've just got to take it and make the selection for the next week as hard as possible for the coaches."

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The fact that he's back in the environment is testament to how hard he's worked after getting a fairly clear message when he was dropped following June's Iveco series.

Messam definitely didn't take the short shrift he got the wrong way, even if some thought he was rather set up as a scapegoat.

"I thought that was just normal after a loss for the All Blacks because there are a lot of expectations when you pull on that jersey. I took their feedback and turned it into a positive -- fixing my game."

Going back to club footy helped, says Messam. Then into a Waikato provincial environment where the dropped All Black was certainly given no favours.

"I worked pretty hard at the small things," said Messam. "My coaches were pretty strict on me -- there were no soft options, they were always on my case. They put a lot of time into me and all that hard work has paid off coming on this tour."

In terms of feedback since he's returned to the All Black scene, the 24-year-old said he's been told the coaches were "pleased the way I went back and worked on things they asked me to".

Defence and accuracy levels therein were the major "work-ons", as they call them these days. "I went out every game to keep building on my previous week, and at the end of the competition I think it was the highest tackle percentage I'd had in a while.

"It was all about accuracy and attention to detail. In test match footy it's the small things that count, not the big things. That's something I've worked pretty hard on.

"Shag's big on it - he says the big things will come, you've just got to keep working on the small things. I've got to keep ticking away at those little things and hopefully the big picture will come."

The picture is certainly a lot brighter for Messam than it was just a few months ago.

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