Aaron Cruden, author of Beautifully Built Tries

In the late forties, a boy was born in the desert. His name was Mohed. He lost both parents as an infant; his mother passed away, and his father abandoned him.

Forbidden to attend school in Syria by his grandmother, he disobeyed, excelled, and won a bursary in France (which required him to first learn French) all the way to doctorate level, with an interest in physics and mathematics.

When the former IRB Junior Player of the Year and 50-cap All Black playmaker Aaron Cruden puts on his blue-and-white jersey to play for Top 14 leader Montpellier, the name on the front is Altrad. Mohed’s surname. It also adorns the state-of-the-art Altrad stadium.

The Bedouin billionaire outcast owns a construction supply business so big, his rugby club is just a hobby. An all-consuming avocation.

Altrad has assembled a cast of talented misfits with an edge. Surly prop-bodied back Frans Steyn has dominated several matches this season. Newly offloading Bismarck du Plessis is the villainous darling of the Montpelliérains. The mysterious Mogg, big-booted Jesse that is, plies his trade here in the Occitan, with his mate Joe Tomane.

Altrad has three Saffa locks averaging 130kg, a couple of Georgian props who resemble nightmares, the gargantuan Nemani Nadolo at left wing, former police constable Timoci Nagusa on the right, and controversial ham-haunched Louis Picamoles as skipper of this piratical crew. To perfect his “family of orphans,” he has the most unfairly maligned 70+ capped scrumhalf in history, the quiet assassin Ruan Pienaar, bulleting his precise passes and kicks to ignite Cruden’s backline.

The taciturn Vern Cotter steers this ship of rugby refugees: he must be overjoyed to have a half-centurion All Black at the helm.

The Manawatu playmaker with the reconstructed knee is easily the smallest back in the squad: playing next to another IRB Junior Player of the Year, the beefy Bok Jan Serfontein, who feeds behemoths Steyn and Nadolo, Cruden looks forever in mortal danger on the pitch. At five foot nine or so, and weighing in at 82 kg fully clothed, he has always tried to find the creases.

He’s forever faced adversity. Diagnosed with testicular cancer at age 19, just as he left Palmerston North High School, Cruden lost one testicle and went through chemotherapy, and is thankfully still in remission. Injuries gutted his chances at both 2011 and 2015 World Cups.

One thing the Hurricane-turned-Chief flyhalf doesn’t have to worry about at Montpellier is kicking from the tee. He drops at restarts, but with marksmen Pienaar, the metronomic Benoit Paillaugue, long-bomber Mogg, and ice-cool Steyn in the side, Cruden can just relax and try to build tries.

The Top 14 awards the Trophee Gedimat each month to the “best built try.” The focus is on the movement, the collective action, the architecture of the try. The winner receives a sculpture by Jean-Pierre Rives, who all oldtimers will remember as the storming undersized flanker with blood streaming into his long blonde hair as he battled manfully for the French Test team.

Cruden won this award for September of 2017 for a 31-second, 12-pass sequence ending with his superb millimetre-precise pass to the try-scorer.

With lofty expectations come strident demands. But last night as I chatted with the locals in the bar, the bistro, and the stands in Montpellier, it was obvious Cruden is vying with Bismarck to be Most Popular Foreigner.

Why? Besides his humble persona and livewire try-creation, Cruden is a proven winner. Is there an All Black with a better winning percentage as a starter?

Bismarck may have more billboards, I noticed, as I took an Uber to the rather isolated but impressive stadium; but Cruden has the team on top of the league.

We should note the Top 14 owns many of rugby’s best forwards and fliers, but it is not a great flyhalf league. Mike Harris started at ten for a losing Lyon last night. Powerhouse Toulon has the up-and-down Francois Trinh-Duc pulling the strings. Dan Carter is phoning it in, as is Morne Steyn, Ryan Lamb, and Camille Lopez. Maybe the brightest new playmaker talent this season is at Agen, where the Reds emigre Jake McIntyre is going well.

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In town to take on number one Cruden and Company were 11th-ranked Stade Francais, who do have a well-regarded flyhalf, Jules Plisson.

Sergio Parisse was crocked, which disappointed me, but in his place was big lump Willem Alberts! On a cold night, with a wet field, you wouldn’t want to spend eighty minutes tackling the Bone Collector, who still looks just as imposing as ever.

Yet a few minutes after a suspiciously young Belorussian bartender had poured me a half-dozen beers, and I had unwieldily climbed the steep steps to row seven of the perfectly-sized stands (14,700 capacity and not a bad seat anywhere), there was Cruden ‘tackling’ Alberts, who picked up from a nice scrum.

Yes, it was more of a “provide a speed bump and hope Serfontein helps” tackle, but it worked.

Stade Francais, in their hot pink strip, dominated the first half, with rolling sorties led by Alberts and the Australian-French winger Marvin O’Connor, who stunned his former fans to score a fine early try.

It was Cruden who led the home side back, with fewer chances, but greater skill. He scored a balletic try himself after twenty minutes, unlocking the defence with an almost slow-motion show-and-go.

His combination with Serfontein has gelled nicely; I could hear his instructions to the backline were in clear Kiwi.

Picamoles crashed over at halftime to own an unlikely 14-13 lead (Plisson nailed two penalties to go with the converted early try).

I stuck with my 5:1 ratio of beer-to-fries at halftime, so the second half is a wee bit blurry, but it was clear the home side had more depth. Bismarck owned the tight exchanges and his offload to set a mad rampaging Nadolo free at the end gave the winners a deserved 28-16 bonus point win.

The Top 14 awards winners a bonus point if they win by three tries or more.

Cruden was surely the man of this match; he looks to be enjoying his rugby in the South of France, adopted by the orphan owner who has built something beautiful for the players in search of rejuvenation.