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Oh man, if only!!!
Hennas and Leonard instead of Hennas and O'Young or now Hennas and McGrath
Leonard shines as one that got away
Bret Harris, The Australian | August 27, 2007
IF things had turned out differently, exciting halfback Brendon Leonard could have been playing for the Wallabies instead of the All Blacks at the World Cup.
After he was appointed coach of Western Force two years ago, John Mitchell approached Leonard to join the club in Perth.
Mitchell, who had a stint with Waikato in the New Zealand Provincial Championship in 2004 in between coaching the All Blacks and the Force, was aware of Leonard's talent after taking him for skills training in a development squad in Hamilton.
"When I was NPC coach that particular year I spent one morning a week for six months just doing skills with them," Mitchell said.
"That year I had access to Byron Kelleher and Rhys Duggan, who was in his last year of football so he was the next cab off the rank.
"Brendon got trial football before the NPC, but he never got any NPC football that year.
"He is a fantastic story because he never played for the New Zealand Secondary Schools and never made the New Zealand Colts.
"Would you believe, with the disappointment of New Zealand Colts and the disappointment of not playing for the Waikato first team in 2005, he's actually got an Australian grandmother. I was on the phone to him in the inaugural year, saying if things don't work out, give it another year, I know your passion is to play rugby for Waikato and a higher level and ultimately make the Chiefs for Super 14.
"At that particular point in his life I don't think the All Blacks would have been a realistic goal if he was totally honest, but good on him.
"I would have played him at halfback. I had Matty (Henjak), but I was still looking for that competitive halfback."
Leonard, 22, was originally a fullback and Mitchell was influential in his switch to halfback.
"I had some sort of say in that," Mitchell said. "I guess others saw he had the ability to go well at halfback because he had extremely good acceleration.
"During the time I was at Waikato we talked about it, but it was really only development mornings once a week.
"I trained him as a halfback because I saw the talent back then. He played Waikato under-19s in both positions.
"It was probably under-19s that he started to head more into halfback."
Apart from his speed off the mark, which was evident when he intercepted a pass from the scrumbase in the All Blacks' 26-12 win against the Wallabies in Auckland last month, Leonard's size also appealed to Mitchell, who is in favour of big halfbacks.
At 182cm, Leonard is much taller than All Blacks halfback Byron Kelleher (175cm) and Wallabies halfback George Gregan (173cm).
"George was a world-class halfback during the sequence days, the contrived attack, whereas now, with the game becoming a lot more pressured at the breakdown, your halfback, at times, has to be an extra loose forward and he is having to deal with a lot more untidy ball," Mitchell said.
"Therefore, he has to be a lot stronger because he is not always going to get it on a plate to do the traditional base pass. He has to cop a fair bit."
Mitchell said he was thrilled to see Leonard make the All Blacks World Cup squad after establishing himself as the reserve Test halfback in the Tri-Nations during his rookie Super 14 season with the Chiefs.
"Being a former Waikato player, I took it upon myself to give him a call once he was selected in the All Blacks just to congratulate him," Mitchell said.
"It seems not too long ago that I was doing a presentation to a sports and leisure class in 2004, talking about preparing yourself for a professional working week, and he was down the back of the room listening. It's a real success story."
Kelleher, who also plays halfback for the Chiefs, will start the World Cup as the All Blacks' first-choice halfback, but Mitchell believes Leonard will put a lot of pressure on him, although he thinks his impact off the bench will be a major asset.
"While Byron has matured as a footballer and, obviously, as a person, the pressure can get to him at times, whereas I think Brendon brings a freshness and acceleration, which comes through his youthfulness," Mitchell said.
"He is a little bit quicker than most halfbacks in the world at the moment. He is also physically strong and he's got a good box kick.
"He actually probably brings a few more weapons, but I guess the All Blacks will try to get the good starts.
"Either the contest will be won or the contest will be an arm wrestle and then bring someone like Brendon on who can break a fatiguing defensive line."
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