Move north pays off for surplus lock

PETER MEECHAM/The Dominion Post

GOING UP: Chiefs lock Culum Retallick, pictured playing for Bay of Plenty against Canterbury, ventured north because of Canterbury's strong second-row stocks.

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As his patience wore thin, Culum Retallick knew it was time to move north.

Unable to break into the Canterbury squad because of the surplus of quality locks in the province, Retallick, who has been named on the Chiefs' bench for tonight's Super 14 match against the Crusaders at Waikato Stadium, moved to Bay of Plenty three years ago.

After leaving Christchurch and the Linwood club to play for the Bay, the former Shirley Boys' High School First XV second rower cracked a place in the Chiefs squad and has appeared in their opening four matches this year.

As he joined the Chiefs squad for pre-season training, Retallick, 25, would hardly have found he was in foreign territory; he was in the Canterbury B squad with Craig Clarke, Kevin O'Neill (who was not considered for this fixture because of his Achilles tendon injury) and Jared Hoeata. Bay of Plenty team-mate Phil Burleigh is another former Canterbury B player in the Chiefs' wider training group.

A former member of the Canterbury academy, Retallick, who played alongside Ben and Owen Franks at Linwood, also used to flat with Isaac Ross and Jonathan Poff who went on to play for the Crusaders.

"The main reason I left was because I didn't see myself making the [Canterbury] NPC squad or anything like that," Retallick said. "I probably would have had another year of Bs and I wanted to go to the next level. There were heaps of locks around so I kind of had to make a choice for myself."

Retallick, who was raised in Woodend, knocked back an offer from North Harbour because at the time the Bay had just lost two locks and because of that he believed he had better chances there.

He started in the shock 18-23 defeat to the Queensland Reds last weekend, but has been replaced by the fit-again Clarke – who is a former Crusader – for tonight's encounter.

Having led 15-0 in the opening quarter, the Chiefs were expected to easily beat the Reds but they lost concentration and allowed the visitors to win.

"I think we thought we were going to roll them but they came back at us and we didn't handle that pressure at all," Retallick admitted.

"In saying that we probably didn't have our best week at training, do our homework, and we probably let ourselves slip like that and we have paid the consequences for it."

- © Fairfax NZ News