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Brothers In Arms

Carl Hayman’s decision not to return to New Zealand was the cause of much dismay. But all is not lost. Owen Franks made a highly encouraging start to his All Black career last year and he has many of the attributes that made Hayman the cornerstone of New Zealand scrums. NZ Rugby World profiles the Canterbury youngster who will not be satisfied until he is the best tight-head prop in the business.

Tuesday, 08 June 2010

Brent Edwards

It's no exaggeration to say that Crusaders and All Black brothers Owen and Ben Franks get on like a house on fire.

Thereby hangs a tale for, in 1999, their Lyttelton house was engulfed in flames and had it not been for the heroics of Ben, we might not be talking now of Owen as the tight-head prop who is assuming the mantle once held by Carl Hayman.

The blaze began in the early hours of the morning when Owen was sound asleep.

“Ben was a bit of a hero,” Owen recalled. “He woke first and got the whole family out. He actually got me first but I fell asleep again. Everyone was outside waiting for me before Ben came in again and got me.

“I suppose he helped save my life. The house was pretty much ruined. I was pretty lucky. I don’t really think about it much now. It was just one of those things that happen, I guess.”

That pretty much sums up Owen Franks. He takes things in his stride.

Which is just as well because his has been a whirlwind rise from a fringe player in the Crusaders to the All Black No 3 jersey.

At the start of last season he was the fourth-ranked Crusaders’ prop behind Ben, Wyatt Crockett and Bronson Murray.

Then things started happening. Ben broke a bone in his foot, Murray was demoted and Franks was promoted to the No 3 jersey for the home stretch of the campaign.

The All Black selectors liked what they saw and, on June 27, Franks became New Zealand’s third youngest test prop when he came off the bench against Italy on his home ground in Christchurch.

A few weeks later he had his first start in the All Blacks against the Springboks in Durban. It was a daunting assignment - only Mark Irwin and Kent Lambert had been younger when they debuted in the front-row for the All Blacks - but Franks was not overawed.

There is a quiet confidence about Franks and a self-belief that, if he has done the work, the rest will pretty much take care of itself.

“I’m lucky in that I’ve not tended to suffer from nerves. I look forward to the big challenges. When you get opportunities, you can’t really let nerves get the better of you.

“As long as my preparation’s been good, I don’t let things bother me too much. If I’ve prepared properly, I’m pretty confident I can do the job. That’s why I like to put a lot of time into my prep.

“Everything happened so quickly at the start. Suddenly I was a starting prop for the Crusaders and then I was an All Black.

“But I’ve come to terms with it now. It’s happened and I’m looking forward more than I’m looking back. I just want to keep getting better and to reach my full potential.”

Franks went on to play nine tests for the All Blacks last year. There was a special thrill in coming off the bench in the All Blacks’ 22-16 over Australia at Eden Park but he will always remember the test at Twickenham, both for the atmosphere, the result (a 19-6 win) and his opponent.

“There was a sell-out crowd so it was great to play in front of that sort of cauldron. It was a really tough test and so was the guy [Tim Payne] that I marked. He would be one of the best props I’ve opposed. Benn Robinson, of New South Wales, is another good one.”

All Black head coach Graham Henry has been hugely impressed with Franks’ attitude.

“He is like some athletes who thrive on the greater stage. The bigger the challenge, the more excited they are and I think that’s great,” Henry said.

“That doesn’t necessarily equal success but I think it goes a long way towards it. He’s got an edge to him, which is important at this level of rugby. He’s done things beyond what we thought he would do at this stage of his career.”

An integral part of the Owen Franks story is his brother Ben who, at 26, is four years his senior.

Ben was born in Melbourne when his parents Ken and Julie were living in the Victorian capital where Ken was working in the Navy.

Ben made his Canterbury debut in 2005, his Crusaders debut the next year and played for the All Blacks in the thriller against Munster in Limerick during the end-of-season tour in 2008.

While Ben can play on both sides of the scrum, though he has a preference for loose-head, Owen has more or less specialised as a tight-head.

“I’ve always played in the front row, for as long as I can remember,” Owen said. “I did play a bit at loose-head at the start but lately I’ve just been trying to focus on tight-head and trying to become the best I can in that position. I probably started specialising as a tight-head in my last year at school [Christchurch Boys’ High School] when I was 17 or 18.”

Owen and Ben have a 17-year-old sister, Kate, who is doing a pharmacy course in Christchurch and they have always been a close family.

There was always encouragement from their father, Ken, who spends much of his time fishing in the Motueka region.

“Ken played a bit of rugby in the Navy but not to a high level,” Owen said. “He’s quite stocky but shorter than Ben and me. He always steered us in the right direction. He trained us from a young age so he always had us focused and setting goals. He’s been huge in our careers. Since we were young he’s always been coming up with ideas to help us get ahead of the rest of the pack.”

Owen’s fishing expeditions in Ken’s deep sea trawler have been less successful.

“Every time I went out with him, I seemed to stuff things up,” Owen said. “I think Ben’s more useful on a boat. He’s got more experience than me.”

Owen and Ben have done things together since Owen can remember. Owen was born in Motueka and his first memories are of playing league in the town before joining the Huia Rugby Club.

Then followed the move to Lyttelton where the Franks’ joined the local club which can also boast two others sets of All Black brothers, Graeme and Stephen Bachop and Aaron and Nathan Mauger.

“We were always fighting with each other, doing stuff most brothers do and getting into mischief,” Owen recalled.

“We’ve both always been into the same sort of stuff and we get on well. We’ve always trained with each other so that’s been good.

“It’s great really. Ben has made it a bit easier for me because he has been there, done that. He sees things that work for me and we help each other out quite a lot.”

Asked to nominate who has helped him most in his career, Franks unhesitatingly nominates his older brother.

“He’s always been there and we’ve always done things together.”

Owen said it was “awesome” when he played in the same side as his brother.

“It’s cool having him there. You know he’s going to give 110 per cent because that’s the way we are.”

They have propped the scrum for Canterbury and the Crusaders and there is the possibility they could become the first brothers to anchor an All Black scrum.

“That would be the ultimate, I suppose,” Owen said. “It couldn’t get much better than that. Maybe one day - hopefully.

“We’re pretty down—to-earth people. We don’t get too caught up in any hype. We’re always taking the mickey out of each other. I don’t think there’s any danger of either of us getting carried away.”

Owen and Ben recently opened the CrossFit Gym in Moorhouse Avenue, Christchurch, a venture they had been discussing for some time.

“Ben and I sat down and talked about it about a year ago,” Owen said. “We both like weight training and thought it would tie in with one of our interests. It’s going pretty well. We get a few more people coming in every week so that’s encouraging. We’d like to build it into a really good business.”

Owen has long been an advocate of gym training. “I started weight training at an early age. I just got into the sort of things that I thought would help my scrummaging and the attitude I took towards it and it’s been a huge help in preparing me physically for top rugby.”

Owen’s boyhood heroes were Jonah Lomu and Sean Fitzpatrick and he always had a particular liking for prop Bull Allen.

The Franks’ brothers are members of the Linwood club, famous for producing many All Blacks, including the redoubtable Fergie McCormick and Tane Norton.

And it is the rugby development officer at that club, Scott Hansen - a halfback in the Crusaders’ formation year in 1996 - who is Franks’ mentor.

“I meet him once a week and he helps me with things to work on in my game,” Owen said. “He comes up with drills and he also helps me set goals and other things. He’s great to have around.”

Asked to nominate his main strengths, Franks said: “I think my scrummaging and workrate are my main strengths but I’m always trying to improve them and to reach a level of consistency. I always try to give 100 per cent.”

Franks’ initial aim this year is to make the All Black squad for the June tests, then the Tri-Nations, but there is no doubt next year’s World Cup looms in the back of his mind.

“I don’t really think about it too much at this stage,” he said. “When I do think about it, and see the ads on telly, I get quite excited and also a bit nervous. There’s a lot at stake.

“I try just to focus on what I’m doing at the moment because, if I don’t, I won’t be there. But I’d definitely like to be part of the World Cup, you can put a ring around that.”

Owen and Ben were sitting together watching the television when the All Blacks suffered their shock quarter-final loss to France in Dublin in 2007.

“I was pretty shocked, like everyone else,” Owen said. “I just didn’t expect it. It was pretty hurtful and gut-wrenching. For the All Blacks to dominate for most of the year and then lose in the quarter-finals - it made it pretty hard to take.”

And if the chance comes, as it surely will, Franks would like to be part of the first All Black team to win the Webb Ellis Trophy for 24 years. Franks, as if we needed any reminding, was not even born when the inaugural tournament was played in New Zealand in 1987.

“That would be the ultimate goal,” he said. “You can’t get much better than winning a World Cup. That would be pretty wicked.”

But, at the same time, he has other goals he wants to achieve.

“I would like to be known as someone who was the best in his position and did things a little differently,” he said. “As someone who was really dominant and who strived to be the best he could be.”

Hayman’s decision to spurn the offer of the New Zealand Rugby Union to return home to qualify for the World Cup has been seen as a bitter blow but the emergence of the brutishly strong Franks - regarded by many judges as a better prop than Hayman was at the same age - is the light on the horizon.

He won’t be fazed by any challenge, of that you can be sure. And it’s quite possible his older brother, friend and adviser Ben will be alongside him, either in the No 1 jersey or as part of the squad.

It is just as well for the sake of New Zealand rugby that Ben was so quick off the mark when that fire turned their house into an inferno 11 years ago.

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