Why Wallabies rookie has nothing but praise for ‘really good education’ that ‘definitely served its purpose’ last year in New Zealand
Wallabies rookie Tane Edmed has been talking about his return to New Zealand where Eden Park, inset, was among the grounds he played at in last season's NPC
New Wallabies No.10 Tane Edmed has spoken about his return to Auckland 12 months after his “served a purpose” stint with North Harbour in the New Zealand NPC.
Edmed was handed a first Test start by Joe Schmidt in Australia’s recent Rugby Championship match against Argentina in Sydney. The Round Four outing on September 13 didn’t produce the desired result as the Wallabies were beaten 26-28.
However, the two bonus points they secured in that match – one for losing by only two points and the other for scoring four tries – have them in pole position at the top of the standings ahead of their Round Five fixture at Eden Park.
With all four teams having two wins and two losses so far in an engrossing Championship, Australia are currently on 11 points, South Africa and New Zealand have 10, with Argentina bringing up the rear on nine.
“That’s what I was looking to get out of it…”
The All Blacks will be confident of enjoying an Eden Park bounce – their unbeaten run at the venue is 51 matches stretching back to 1994 – but the ground holds no fear for international rookie Edmed following his developmental time last year in the city.
The Waratahs half-back made 10 appearances for North Harbour, including a September 2024 NPC match versus Auckland at Eden Park. His team was set for victory until a last-minute free-kick awarded against Bryn Hall for wasting time at a scrum engagement resulted in the winning score in a high-scoring 32-36 encounter.
At the time, Edmed still had to make his Wallabies debut but that arrived in November off the bench versus Ireland in Dublin. A second run as a sub followed last month in Cape Town against South Africa before he was promoted to start last time out against the Pumas.
Now he is back in Auckland after his around-the-world year of progress and looking forward to how match week No.5 in the Rugby Championship unfolds with the Wallabies.
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“It has definitely been a bit of a rollercoaster year since then,” said Edmed, recounting his steps to reporters back to when he was lining out for North Harbour this time last year.
“I came over here to just get better as a rugby player and I felt like it definitely served its purpose. I came away with some really good education, some good coaches, some good players, a new way of playing rugby and that’s what I was looking to get out of it.
“And then the bonus was I got picked up for the spring tour, which was obviously unbelievable. It wasn’t the main goal, but it was definitely really cool. Since then, it’s been a bit up and down, but I have just tried to keep my process really consistent.”
Looking ahead to the coming weekend against the All Blacks, the 2024 NPC’s highest points scorer added: “I have played at Eden Park a fair few times at Tahs as well…
“They [the All Blacks] have obviously got a great record at Eden Park, but at the same time, it is just another footy field, so we are going to prepare accordingly.
“The All Blacks are a great side, there is no denying that, so we are going to focus on what we can do and what we can control and we are going to work really hard this week to give ourselves the best chance on the weekend.”
Before the Wallabies clash with the All Blacks, Edmed’s ex-North Harbour teammates will battle Otago for the Ranfurly Shield earlier in the day.
“I haven’t caught up with them yet,” he said about his hope to meet his former teammates at some stage, “but I’ll try and catch up with them throughout the week.
“I know they are having a little bit of a tough season, so it’d be good to catch up with a few of those boys and say ‘G’day’ again.”
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