An Asian rugby experience
Marc Le has had some great times playing rugby in Asia in the past couple of seasons. Michael Holden recently caught up with him.
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| Marc Le (front left) and his Ricoh teammates. |
Stephen Larkham, Ma’a Nonu, Tamati Ellison. This could be the making of a deadly Barbarians backline. But these are the calibre of players Marist St Pats’ wing Marc Le has being running outside for the last two years at the Japanese club Ricoh. After several seasons of premier club rugby for Marist St Pats, it was in the land of the rising sun in which Le was catapulted into professional rugby.
If we step back to round six of the 2010 Swindale Shield, Le was instead playing outside another deadly backline that included Fa’atonu Fili, Joe Wright and Chris Slade as they demolished Wainuiomata 53-15. As he crossed the line for his third try for the Red Machine that day, little did he or the Marist faithful know that two weeks later he would be stepping off a plane to embark on his first professional contract with Ricoh.
Many of those MSP supporters would have assumed Marc Le was picked up by Ricoh based on his blistering form in that 2010 Swindale Shield. At the time of his departure he led the competition with five tries from five starts. However the story has even more of a fairytale charm than that!
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By happenstance, Le participated in a one-off game at the Chinese Easter sports tournament that year. As one of the few regular rugby players, he rallied the Wellington Chinese team for trainings and then led them from second-five against their Auckland counterparts. Le scored two tries, including a 70m dash through the entire Auckland defence and led Wellington to victory. Two months later, a workmate posting footage of this try on YouTube led to a phone call from Ricoh after Le’s manager Johnny Gbenda Charles had pitched the idea of adding the speed and work ethic of the Silverstream Old Boy to their back contingent.
That Tuesday morning phone call led to a whirlwind week where Le quit his job, said farewell to his family, friends and teammates to head off on the Friday into the unknown world of Japanese professional rugby. Le admits it was shock to the system. One minute he was training in the southerlies at Evans Bay Park, the next mixing it with a raft of household rugby names in Tokyo.
But he speaks fondly of these world-renowned players who he describes as ‘normal guys who just happen to be really good at playing footy’; he also credits fellow Kiwis such as Oriental Rongotai’s Roy Kinikinilau for making the transition to the professional game much easier.
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With little time to be star struck, Le was thrust into rugby the day after his arrival. In his first warm up games, he played two halves in which he scored a try in each. But after a pre-season that lasts months, Le’s first regular season at Ricoh was cut short by injury only a couple of games into the season. His professionalism however saw him secure a second contract where he got game time outside Ma’a Nonu who had arrived fresh off winning the Rugby World Cup. It was ‘awesome to be fed the ball from the backline containing Nonu’, Le says, but he now considers the veteran All Black a good mate. He completed the season with about eight games and a number of tries under his belt.
Off contract this Ricoh after last season, he spent some time in November immersing himself in rugby around other parts of Asia. First was 7s for the Malaysian National Team in the Asian Five Nations, then the invitational Cobra 10s Tournament in Borneo where he helped knock out a team containing old mate Fa’atonu Fili in the semi final, and finally to a domestic Agong Cup tournament in Malaysia.
Le describes the Malaysian domestic competition fondly. Participating in games which he rates as at a Senior Two level in Wellington club rugby, he enjoyed seeing the development of the grassroots game in Malaysia. The tournament was hurriedly confirmed in a format where he would play three games in six days, but the excitement of 2000 supporters cheering from the sidelines of a rugby match in Malaysia was pretty special.
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From there he was approached to accompany a group of local under 16 and under 20 players to a clinic with Super Rugby’s Blues side in Auckland where the passionate young players learnt from New Zealand’s top rugby minds. Le’s enthusiasm for the development of Malaysian rugby is clear and he hopes to return to help set up the kids to develop in the game he loves.
Marc Le has often been underestimated in his career; he confesses that he has often been dismissed based on his Asian heritage. But those who have had the pleasure of meeting or playing with him will tell you not to underestimate him anymore. His perseverance and passion for achieving his potential drives him as he works towards his dream of playing ITM Cup in New Zealand. Meanwhile Le is currently in Wellington training with his good mates from the famous club where he did his rugby apprenticeship, readying himself for his next rugby adventure whether it be near or far.
Watch the clip of the 70m try that got Ricoh’s attention!
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