Rokocoko looks for the peaks

Joe Rokocoko epitomises the friendly Pacific Islander. A huge smile, simple and honest sense of humour, and easy-going honest conversation to go with it, not always the easiest trick to pull off with a microphone on the table.

Rokocoko: when to peak?

He spent five patient minutes signing photo after photo while I waited for the interview to start, and deftly manoeuvred me away from one of the tables in the hotel cafe we met in because of the offensive presence of a cigarette butt in the ashtray.

Deft manoeuvres are not always Rokocoko's style, but he has thrilled a generation worldwide for two years now with his galloping stride and endless reserves of acceleration that breeze him past opponents to the line.

By his own standards, it has not been the best of seasons for New Zealand's favourite Fijian. The tries have not been flowing. There had only been three before his brace in Cape Town on Saturday, not the best of returns for eight games, especially when you have scored 27 tries in 23 international games. Rokocoko has been digging deep to keep himself going.

"I would be lying if I said I had been totally happy this season," he confessed.

"To be honest, it has just been frustrating, the opportunities have just not been coming. The ball has not been coming my way.

"I have to just take each week as it comes at the moment. I don't want to get caught up in too much criticism self-criticism though, you just have to park it in the garage and move on, and wait for the chances to come."

Fortunately for Rokocoko, there are very few who do not believe that he would be able to turn things around. But when it comes to seeking a mentor, all the coaches in the world will not replace one person

"I got some advice from my Dad," he said,

"Lots of people come with their advice and opinions and everything, but the only person who will be totally honest with you is your Father I guess. He is the one who will tell you straight up if you need to wake up or not!

"But it is hard at the moment, sometimes I have only touched the ball two or three times in a game. So then you have only two or three chances to show yourself and you really have to back yourself.

"That has really been in my mind recently. Two touches, two chances, take it or lose it. I have looked at other aspects as well, looking for the ball off the forwards or off the ruck, helping the forwards out, and coming off the wing, being more of a threat inside. People do get tired, and it is easier to run around the forwards when they are tired! But I have to take the chances that come my way."

The two tries at the weekend against the Stormers will have gone some way to appeasing any crisis of confidence threatening to wrap up Rokocoko's menace, and there are higher points of his season to come than the Super 12, starting with the first test against the Lions in Christchurch on June 25.

New Zealand not only has that visit to look forward to, there is also the Tri-Nations, and now an end-of-season Grand Slam tour as well! It is an astonishing schedule, but on the form the All Blacks showed against France in November, winning all three is a possibility.

"I am looking forward to it, as long as I get a trial," he said!

"To get into that team you have to be on form in the Super 12. Like I said, I haven't really seen the ball this season - sometimes I have even forgotten what it looks like to tell the truth!

"I hope the coaches will have the same faith in me as last year when I was brought back into the team for the end of year tour and I just have to take those chances and bounce back. I believe I did that last year, and I can do that again.

"It is pretty strange having the Lions tour and the Grand Slam tour this year. After the Lions you will see the expectation; if we win that series we will be expected to win the Tri-Nations, but will we be able to peak again?

"Then after that we have the Grand Slam tour as well! When do we peak? I guess the coaches have been planning for it so we will see how it works, but it is a heck of a schedule! I've only really started thinking about it now.

For Rokocoko, it will most likely be the only chance he gets to play against the Lions - by the time they come calling again he will be 34 - and he is looking forward to his role in history.

"It will be a great occasion, it is something that doesn't come every year, it's all history," he said.

"The best teams mixed in one team coming to New Zealand and challenging the All Blacks. The cream of the crop v All Blacks. You get to challenge all the best guys you remember from the other sides all in one team.

"There are no weaknesses, the best of the best, you really get to measure yourself against the Lions.

"It's a sort of war I guess, when the Lions come to New Zealand. The whole nation is looking forward to it."

But there will be no opponents he has not faced before - unless Denis Hickie claims an unlikely Test team spot - and the six-foot-two-tall, fifteen-and-a-half-stone winger identified an unlikely target as his most challenging opponent.

"I guess for me Shane Williams would be a huge challenge," said Rokocoko.

"I have said before that given a choice, I prefer to face a big guy on the wing, because you get something to hang on to.

"But if someone small and nippy like Williams can really step and you can't take your eyes off him.

"He can run across you, dodge round you, go through your legs! Anything! He can be magic."

It remains to be seen if the fleet-footed Welshman and the rampaging Fijian do come face-to-face - well face-to-chest anyway - but given the challenges and troughs that Rokocoko has experienced and emerged from with reputation intact, he will respect Williams, but not fear him, and he ought to be peaking by then.

Sir Clive Woodward take note.

By Danny Stephens