Nonu well positioned to hand out lessons

LAWRENCE SMITH/ Stuff.co.nz

NO NONU: Dan Carter's mystified about who going to be standing outside him in the black jersey.

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Ma'a Nonu has not forgotten the pain of losing to England, but he also carries with him the gesture of the man he marked in his test debut.

Five years ago a disconsolate Nonu trudged off Westpac Stadium in Wellington after losing his first test 15-13.

He had made a rookie error in underestimating his opponents and it's a lesson he says he has never forgotten.

"I always think about that game," Nonu said yesterday.

"I think about the players I played against. Will Greenwood was at centre and everyone was saying that week that we were going to beat them.

"I was a freshman coming off a dream season for the Canes, and they taught us a lesson. I think we didn't really respect them."

Nonu said he had barely heard of Greenwood before the test and had expected to win on his home ground.

"They weren't a team of superstars, but they were a team of hard workers who won the World Cup in 2003," he said. "I remember Will Greenwood saying to me after the match that I'd had an awesome season and he kind of gave me the advice to just keep going and it will happen for you."

The pair swapped jerseys and Nonu went away and watched some tapes of the man who had earned his respect on and off the field.

Greenwood probably didn't do future England teams any favours because Nonu hasn't underestimated them since.

This year he sees similarities to the way England have been written off in the past and responded with a big performance.

"The last time everyone was writing them off was in '07 [at the Rugby World Cup]. They ended up making the final. I can't understand why these guys [the English media] just bag them all the time."

Nonu considers London a special place to play and says he has been fascinated by the city since his teacher hung a world map with a picture of Big Ben on it at his Strathmore primary school.

Tomorrow he will mark another player he knows little about in the form of big Nigerian-born Biarritz second-five Ayoola Erinle.

It's a clash that suggests two big men will lock horns in a physical battle, but after 44 tests Nonu has become far more than a battering ram.

His bulk and ability to either break the line or draw defenders as a decoy is obvious. What is often overlooked is his growing influence on the ability of his first-five to see space.

Two months ago Wellington first-five Fa'atonu Fili had his best match of the season against North Harbour in the NPC. Fili kicked and ran at the right times and saw space with aplomb, but the difference in his play that day had been his decision making.

What had changed from previous matches was Nonu's presence and it was noticeable at the ground that Fili took many of his cues from the man outside him.

Nonu's combination with Dan Carter is developing a similar dynamic as the man in the No 12 jersey uses his eyes to help guide the maestro. If it fires tomorrow, then Nonu will extend his record over England to five wins from six tests and he might even have a quiet word to Erinle after the match.

- © Fairfax NZ News