Returning Crusader eager to seize second chance

Don’t go putting Manasa Mataele in the same age bracket as other returning Crusaders.

Sure, he concedes that it feels like he’s been around for an age, but the wing only turned 27 this week, a few days before the reigning champion Crusaders assembled for pre-season training.

Much has been made of the Crusaders bringing back veteran players, after 35-year-old centurions Ryan Crotty and Owen Franks signed one-year deals more than four years after last playing for the franchise.

Retired Welsh great Leigh Halfpenny, 34, has also signed with the reigning champions, who have been labelled “Dad’s Army” in some corners of social media as they prepare for their first campaign under new coach Rob Penney.

However, the average age of the Crusaders’ 39-man squad is 25.7, and 18 players are aged between 20 and 24.

As prop George Bower said shortly after Crotty’s return was confirmed, don’t underestimate the importance of having older and experienced heads around.

Indeed, Crotty, Franks and Halfpenny weren’t signed as frontline players who will start every week, but they will nevertheless play a part in the Crusaders’ 2024 campaign, a year after a horror run of injuries ensured their depth was tested like never before.

As will Mataele, who spent the past two years at the Western Force and never thought he’d again represent the team he played 32 games and scored 17 tries for between 2017 and 2021.

“I dunno, not many people could come back to such an elite environment once they have left. But I tell you what, I'm excited. I'm pumped to be back where it all started,” he said.

Mataele was particularly dynamite for the Crusaders until 2019.

A powerful ball runner with a superb offloading game, Mataele played just two games in 2020, and seven (two starts) during his last season with the Crusaders.

But he amassed 24 games for the Force the past two years, and returns to the team his uncle, Seta Tamanivalu, also played for, believing he still has plenty to offer.

“When I say I’m 27, people say, ‘Man, you’ve been around for years’. So it makes me feel old. But the body is good, and I’m just fizzing to go next year.

"The big thing as you get older, and genetically, [Pacific] islanders, we put on more weight, but the big thing for me is just stripping that off again and just getting ready to go, feeling light on my feet.”

Exactly what Mataele’s role will be this year is unclear, but the Crusaders’ first-choice back three is likely to see Will Jordan start at fullback, with Macca Springer and Reece on the wings.

Heremaia Murray, Chay Fihaki and Halfpenny are the other specialist outside backs on the roster, although midfielders Dallas Mcleod and Levi Aumua could also feature there.

Mataele isn’t sweating on it. Having marked Springer when the Force came to Christchurch this year, he knows the Crusaders have some youthful and talented backs, and is used to helping younger players from his time in Perth.

Being back in Christchurch year-round also means he and wife Martha, who represents Matatū in Super Rugby Aupiki and debuted for the Black Ferns this year, don’t have to spend months apart.

No wonder Mataele, who returned to the Garden City to play for Canterbury in the past two NPC campaigns, can’t wipe the smile off his dial while discussing being back with the team he followed closely even while donning Force colours.

"I followed them along, and messaged a few of the boys now and then. Being close with some of the boys and hearing the stories of what they had to go through last season with injuries, and how they came out of it, was just awesome to see.”