Vito excited about Super Rugby season

Victor Vito playing for Marist St. Pat’s in the 2012 Wellington club rugby Jubilee Cup semi-final, flanked by MSP teammates Jeff Toomaga-Allen and Solomona Sakalia and Northern United players Henry Smith and Tomasi Palu. Photo by Holden Bros. Media.

It’s all on in a fortnight. The opening salvoes of the 2014 Investec Super Rugby season, that is. The Hurricanes take the field for the first time this year on 1 February against the Blues at Memorial Park in Masterton, in the first of three pre-season matches. This is followed by a trip across the Tasman to play the Rebels in Geelong and then their final hit-out against the Crusaders in Levin on 14 February.

For New Zealand teams the competition proper starts on the weekend of 21-23 February, with the Hurricanes playing the Sharks in Durban in their Super Rugby opener.

Both Hurricanes pre-season matches on home territory are sure to generate tremendous interest for local fans, as well as valuable match practice for the squad.

The opening Masterton fixture replaces the annual Mangatainoka clash next to the Tui Brewery - for this year at least. The last time a big match was played in Masterton was mid-2009 when the Wellington Lions took the Ranfurly Shield on the road against Wairarapa-Bush and won 90-19.

The Hurricanes were last in Levin in June last year when they played the Crusaders in a mid-season non competition match. In 2008 they convincingly beat the Brumbies in Levin in a pre-season match.

These matches were all extremely popular and both brought the towns to a standstill for several hours.

Should he play, all eyes in Masterton will be on Blues glamour recruit Benji Marshall. But one player in the Hurricanes to look out for will be Victor Vito who starts his sixth season of Super Rugby.

After being left out of the All Blacks at the start of last season’s Tri-Nations, the 60-match Hurricanes loose forward bounced back with a dominant ITM Cup for Wellington. Leading from the front, the Lions captain subsequently won the Wellington Player of the Year award and was pipped for the? ITM Cup Player of the Season accolade by Canterbury halfback Andy Ellis who was the Man of the Match in the final at Westpac Stadium.

As well as his pending marriage - details of which are under wraps - Vito is currently training hard with the Hurricanes and is looking forward to taking the field in February after a three-month break.

He said there’s plenty of spark in the group and the young guys are all raring to get their chance to impress on the Super Rugby stage.

“We had some productive sessions before the Christmas break and we welcomed the new guys Mark Abbott, Hadleigh Parkes, Cardiff Vaega and Marty Banks into the environment, and they all fitted in well,” said Vito.

“It was pretty tough going, training pretty much every day apart from a couple of days off here and there. The boys have turned up in good shape on this side of the New Year.”

The focus now is on the games coming up. “We’re now looking at more of our skills and trying to get our templates up and running so we can hit the field at full steam come the first one against the Blues. “

This Saturday is also the annual Hurricanes in-house Surf to Peak run-bike-run, from Lyall Bay to the top of Mt Victoria, and Vito said several players are talking up their chances.

“The reigning champion is Manawatu flanker Callum Gibbins and he’s looking like the odds-on favourite again. Stiff competition should come from the likes of Wellington flanker Adam Hill and Hawke’s Bay lock Mark Abbott but you’ll never know who’ll sneak up and take it out this year.”

“It’s all about the bike leg, if you can get to the bottom of the Mt Victoria hill in good time you’ve got a good chance of winning.”

It starts at Lyall Bay with a 1km run, where they will then transition to their bikes for a 21 km cycle around the bays.

This will take them around Breaker Bay, Seatoun, and Karaka Bay, and will continue around the headland, along Evans Bay and past Greta Point to Oriental Parade. From there, they have to endure a 2 km uphill run to the Mt Victoria lookout.

There are only two players in the race’s history who have completed the course in under an hour. In December 2011, James Marshall finished in a time of 59.49 minutes, however, that was topped last year by Gibbins, who clocked in at 57.14 minutes.

Fitness will be key when the Hurricanes tour South Africa first-up, playing their first two competition matches against the Sharks in Durban and the Stormers in Cape Town.

Is playing in the heat early in the season a factor? “Playing early season Super Rugby in the heat in South Africa is definitely a factor for us in our planning? and we’ve got our own measures in place to prepare for it - although we’re not playing on the High Veldt this time.”

Vito, of course, burst on to the international scene in 2008 as a Sevens player. He played a starring role in the Wellington Sevens by scoring two tries in the final against Samoa, including the match winner in the dying moments.

He watched the Wellington team win the National Sevens title on television last Sunday evening with pride, praising their performance after they had pipped Taranaki 10-5 in the semi-final and then ousted Auckland 26-17 in the final.

Does Vito have aspirations to play Sevens rugby again? “Fifteens is my focus, but at the same time if there’s an opportunity in the future to play Sevens and to represent Wellington or the country then I’ll see what happens.”

An Old Boy of Scots College, Vito is pleased with the recent resurgence of the school’s rugby.

Last year Scots made the semi-finals of the Premier 1 Wellington First XV competition, won the Wellington Secondary Schools Sevens title and went within a whisker of winning the National Condor Schools Sevens title by losing 12-19 at the death to Kelston Boys’ High School in the final.

“It’s always good to see them do well and give other guys stick about Scots now beating their old schools,” said Vito.

In 2003 and 2004 Vito was the back-to-back College Sport Wellington all-rounder of the year. In 2004 he was the first Scots College pupil to be named College Sport Wellington Rugby Player of the Year and also that year received the premier College Sport Wellington award.

He recalls one famous game between Scots College and Lindisfarne College of Hastings played in a virtual storm in the depths of winter when Lindisfarne’s Israel Dagg scored four tries.

These days his community rugby affiliations lie with Marist St Pat’s, whom he made his debut for in 2006 and directly helped them lift the Swindale Shield in 2008. Professional demands mean its only infrequently that he turns out for MSP, but he said he follows the team closely.

“If I’m not playing for MSP, I’m supporting them and I try to get to as many games as I can and keep an ear out for results.”

"All the boys in the Hurricanes are club boys and if we’re not there in person there’s always banter between us and bets going on.”

Hurricanes matches coming up:

• Saturday 1 February v Blues, Memorial Park Masterton (pre-season

• Saturday 8 February v Rebels, Geelong (pre-season)

• Friday 14 February v Crusaders, Levin (pre-season)

• Sunday 23 February 4.05 am (NZT) v Sharks, Durban

• Saturday 1 March 6.10 am (NZT) v Stormers, Cape Town