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'Congrats bro, you're in the All Blacks': Ruben Love on his rise through injuries
By Adam Julian
Ruben Love was at The Street Church in June with Wellington Lions doctor Theo Dorfling when his phone started consistently bleeping.
The first message Love retrieved said, “Congrats bro, you're in the All Blacks.”
A disbelieving Love briefly left the congregation to check. It transpired he’d been selected for the All Blacks XV which was still a considerable achievement given his injury woes.
Love only played eight minutes of Super Rugby in what turned out to be the Hurricanes last fixture - the quarter-final defeat to the Brumbies.
"I suffered a groin tear in Super Rugby last year. I kicked a conversion in front against Moana Pasifika. It was an easy one that I didn’t need to strike as hard as I did. Immediately I felt this ripping pain,” Love told RugbyPass.
"I played through the NPC with this injury, but I was in so much pain. The groin is connected to the abs, so it basically affects every movement. Small things such as getting in and out of the car, sneezing, and laughing, especially around Xavier Numa, were really difficult.
"I often sat out practice. Too much kicking, sprinting, and stepping would put further strain on it."
Remarkably, Love played all 13 matches (10 starts) in the Wellington Lions triumphant 2022 NPC season. He scored six tries as Wellington won the title for the first time since 2000.
"We were really frustrated after the Northland loss, so we caught up at one of the boys' flats and had some bonding time. That was a turning point, really connecting as a team,” Love said.
"Leo Crowley missed a lot of the season. His mother passed, which was tough for him. We were determined to play for him, but it meant everyone else had to step up.
"Tamati Ellison had the utmost confidence that we could turn things around. He’s been such a massive servant to rugby in Wellington. He adds so much as a coach."
Wellington won ten consecutive matches to conclude the 2022 season and has carried on the momentum in 2023 with an unblemished 4-0 start to the NPC and two successful defences of the Ranfurly Shield against Heartland opposition in July.
New defensive structures coupled with greater individual accountability have driven much of the improvement.
Wellington’s increased resolve was best illustrated in their 26-18 NPC final win against Canterbury in Christchurch. Love, however, is renown for attack, and he scored a cracking try in the decider.
“That wasn’t my try, sure I scored it, but Caleb Delany got a lineout steal and Jackson (Garden-Bachop) put Dupes (Du'Plessis Kirifi) in a hole. Watch how Jackson pump-faked the pass. That looks easy but in full motion, it’s hard to get the timing right.
"Dupes throws off half the Canterbury team and could properly have thrown the fullback off too, but he does the unselfish thing and passes. All I had to do is run it in.”
As part of the Maori All Blacks in July 2022, Love ran the Irish ragged in an eclectic stint off the bench in Wellington.
Down by 20 points, Love came on late in the second half, made repeat breaks, and scored a try as the Maori, in inclement weather, launched an improbable comeback that just fell short.
"Ireland are such a strong team, a strength-in-numbers team, very hard to break down and precise in their structures. I watched a lot of tape before that game trying to figure out how they defend. I wanted to take players one-on-one, loosen things up a bit and take Ireland out of their comfort zone,” Love said.
“The other thing about that game is I had 30 family members in the stands shivering, waiting patiently for me to come on. I wanted to give them their money’s worth.”
Love hurt the Irish again on the All Blacks XV tour in November. He scored a try in the resounding 47-19 victory over Ireland A in Dublin, but his own groin pain persisted, so he sought international assistance.
Enda King is a sports physiotherapist, strength and conditioning coach, researcher, and educator who heads Elite Performance and Development at Aspetar in Doha, Qatar.
King has worked with athletes in the AFL, NBA, NFL, UFC, boxing, jockeys, and GAA. His greatest areas of expertise lie within hip and groin-related injury, as well as knee and ACL rehabilitation. Love communicates with King on Zoom.
“He’s been a game changer with his practical tips and building confidence. I’m not fully recovered. I’m not even sure how I got the injury, but it's definitely more manageable now.”
Love thrived on the All Blacks XV tour of Japan. He started in both wins against Japan XV’s amassing 139 minutes across both games. He was at his very best in the more open second fixture.
He set up two tries, the first with an incisive run and the second with two quick kicks that travelled 80m. A try-saving tackle on Semisi Masirewa, who scored two second-half tries, was another quality moment.
“A lot of people said we were playing Japan B but in one of the games, they had 388 Test caps. They basically flipped the bench and only made a couple of swaps across both games. They were a good side who played a fast, skilful brand of footy," Love said.
In his spare time, Love studies Te Reo Maori and videography. Wellington travels to Christchurch for a rematch of the NPC final on Sunday.
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Latest Comments
Yeah nar I pretty much agree with that sentiment, wasn't just about the lineout though.
Yeah, I think it's the future of SR, even TRC. Graham above just now posting about how good a night it was with a dbl header of ENGvSA and NZvFrance, and now I don't want to kick SA or Argentina out of TRC but it would be great if in this next of the woods 2 more top teams could come in to create more of these sort of nights (for rugby's appeal). Often Arg and SA and both travel here and you get those games but more often doesn't work out right.
Obviously a long way off but USA and Japan are the obvious two. First thing we need to do is get Eddie Jones kicked out of Japan so they can start improving again and then get a couple of US teams in SRP (even if one its just a US based and augmented Jaguares).
It will start off the whole conferences are crap debate again (which I will continue to argue vehemently against), but imagine a 6 team Pacific conference, Tokyo Sunwolves (drafted from Tokyo JRLO teams), Tokyo All Stars (made up of best remaining foreign players and overseas drafts), ALL Nihon (best of local non Tokyo based talent, inc China/Korea etc, with mainland Japan), a could of West Coast american franchises and perhaps a second self PI driven Hawai'i based team, or Jagaures. So I see a short NFL like 3 or 4 month comp as fitting best, maybe not even a full round, NZvAUSvPAC, all games taking place within a 6hr window. Model for NZ will definitely still require a competitive and funded NPC!
On the Crusaders, I liked last years ending with Grace on the bench (ovbiously form dependent but thats how it ended) and Lio-Willie at 8. I could have Blackadder trying to be a 7 but think balance will be used with him at 6 and Kellow as 7. Scott Barrett is an international 6 sized player. It is just NZ style/model that pushes him into the tight, I reckon he'd be a great loose player, and saders have Strange and Cahill as bigger players (plus that change could draw someone like Darry back). Same with Haig now, hes not grown yet but Barrett hight and been playing 6, now that the Highlanders have only chosen two locks he'll be playing lock, and that is going to change his growth trajectory massively, rather than seeing him grow like an International 6.
Go to commentsDan Carter is the leading points scorer and leading points per game person for a player with significant tests. 2s RWC winner and member of the games greatest ever team. It's not even close. The only question of GOAT for rugby is whether McCaw deserves it given Carter's numbers.
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