Vaa'i credits Retallick for shaping his reputation as All Blacks' on-field menace

Tupou Vaa’i has credited Brodie Retallick as the man who taught him how to be a nuisance — and says embracing that identity has unlocked the best rugby of his career.

The 26-year-old All Blacks lock, now in his seventh season with New Zealand, spent four years alongside Retallick at the Chiefs and says the 2014 World Rugby Player of the Year passed on far more than lineout technique.

“Playing alongside Brodie Retallick for those years, it’s easy to pick up on things like that,” Vaa’i told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod. “It’s just another way that you can get into the game.”

Vaa’i was quick to point out that the antagoniser role is not purely borrowed. He says it grew from a deliberate process of understanding what kind of player he wants to be.

“Just more around understanding who I am and how I want to be perceived by other players. I tend to get called a bit of a menace around camp. It’s just in-the-moment things that help me get into the game. I think I perform at my best when I’m at that stage, if that makes sense.”

The lock acknowledged, with some amusement, that his pot-stirring has not endeared him to every teammate. Halfbacks have been among the casualties, and roommate Samisoni Taukai’aho has reportedly been on the receiving end of his jabs most regularly. Loose-head Fletcher Newell has also copped it — though Vaa’i insists there are no hard feelings. “We’ve had a laugh after the game.”

Vaa’i came into the All Blacks environment during the era of Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock’s celebrated second-row partnership, with Scott Barrett also competing for minutes. Opportunities were limited early, but the mentorship available to him during that period proved formative.

Having played significant minutes alongside Sam Darry, Josh Lord and Fabian Holland over the past 12 months, Vaa’i is now one of the more experienced locks in the squad — a transition he describes as strange but motivating.

“It’s a bit of a weird feeling, to be honest. I’ve always been the younger lock over the last few years, and I guess it’s just something where I need to get out of my comfort zone and go bone-deep in my prep, and that’s something that I’m enjoying at the moment.”

He also singled out forwards coach Neil Barnes as a key influence on his continued development, praising Barnes’s attention to the finer details of lineout work and the broader shape of New Zealand’s forward play.