Piece in the Times today about Non Irish players playing here for 3 years and then putting on the green ireland jersey. Nice interview with Dave.
Ah You, like Aki, qualifies for Samoa, through his parents, yet ironically his surname is of Chinese origin as his great grandfather emigrated with his family to Samoa.
Laidback to the point of being prostrate, the innately good-humoured and immensely likeable Ah You is a little sketchy about the details. Born in Lower Hutt outside Wellington before his parents Kelope and Faaia moved him and his two sisters Diana and Pepe to the Hoon Hay suburb (“not the flashest of places” he says) in Christchurch when he was about nine, Ah You was more interested in emulating his dad’s amateur boxing until taking up rugby when he was 16.
Converted from a backrower to a prop a year later, in a swift rise through the Canterbury age grades, he was invited to an under-19 trial in New Plymouth. “The whole time I was thinking ‘why the hell am I going here?’ And then Wayne Smith read out the under-19s squad I couldn’t believe my name being called out.”
Ah You was part of the Baby Blacks team which won the Junior World Cup in Belfast in 2008, and the following year in Cardiff. “Every kid in New Zealand wants to wear the black jersey,” he admits of his ambitions then, but he played little rugby for the Canterbury ITM Cup team in the ensuing two years. “To be honest I was taking it for granted really and slacking off,” he admits, and so was ripe for an 18-month contract when Eric Elwood, coach of the Irish Under-20s at those World Cups, made enquiries about him.
Ah You admits the first year was very tough but he had “a serious chat with Pat Lam at the end of last season and something clicked in my head. He just made me want to work hard for him. Scrummaging has come a long way for me. I’ve adapted pretty well to the new laws. I feel it suits me. Off field my lifestyle has improved. I’d had a bad diet and wasn’t working hard enough.”
He played in all of Connacht’s 28 games this season.
Ah You and his wife Bella, a big driving force for him, have two young children, three-year-old Zephaniah (a biblical name meaning gift from God) and one-year-old Xavier, a warrior, with another due in September. “I wanted strong names for our Galway-born boys.”
“Ireland is starting to feel like home now,” he adds, “especially staying on for another two years. God willing, hopefully we’ll stay on for more. The World Cup is my goal and I don’t want this to be just a one-off.”
Prank call
With White, Stephen Archer and Declan Fitzpatrick all sidelined, when Marty Moore was ruled out last Saturday, Schmidt turned to Ah You, who admits when phoned by the Irish coach at around midnight last Saturday, he thought it was a prank call. Ah You was at the Irish squad’s airport hotel by 1.00 and quickly set about learning the lineout calls, and Schmidt admits: “It’s a massive ask for Rodney, and it probably requires a little bit of patience to see how he goes, but he’s very keen, he’s a very nice fellah. I hope he’s not too nice when it comes to coming on off the bench on Saturday if that’s what transpires.”
Ah You says his mum had tears of joy when he skyped home this week. “I was stoked to be involved with Emerging Ireland and just being involved in this tour has boosted my confidence. It’s nice to get a taste of it and see what level to get to in order to crack the Irish squad.”
