Alex Ainley 'bloody loving' first season of Super Rugby

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 Alex Ainley of the Highlanders is tackled during the round 17 Super Rugby match between the Hurricanes and the Highlanders. AIex Ainley chuckles away before answering "no".  "That was a simple question," he says.

"Did you expect to be making your Super Rugby debut at 33-years-old?" he was asked. "I thought it was the end of the footy days. I definitely thought it was too late. I was half talking to Tasman about having another year and how I should structure this year so I can get the most out of it, so I'm fit for ITM Cup and so I don't burn out.

"Burn out? His rugby career is just taking off.Ainley could easily fall into the journeyman category, perhaps due to his age. He's a hardworking battler and a father of three, who just 12 months ago was still playing club rugby. His biggest disappointment was losing the Nelson Bays club final with Wanderers.

If you rewind to when his career started, he was a foundation member of the Tasman Makos. He played every single game in the 2006 season at flanker and was proudly named captain the following season.He thought he was close to making Super Rugby at the time, but the bites never became a catch - back then the Makos were lingering at the bottom of the provincial table - so he spent his off-seasons playing in Italy and eventually moved to Japan, signing a three-year contract with Mitsubishi Dynaboars in Sagamihara.

Then came a "bloody good job" offer, which lured him back home. And no, it wasn't the Highlanders."I got a job at Taylor's Contracting in Nelson. I was manager there looking after a contract with the Tasman District Council. 

"Charlie Taylor, the boss, is a big man out at Wanderers and he was more than happy for me to play for Tasman and take three months off during the ITM Cup. He's a big footy man so he loves it.

"But at the end of last year Ainley had to ask his boss for some extended leave. Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph had just called up and offered him a one-year deal. "I didn't even think it was him. I thought it was Joe Wheeler taking the piss. But it sounded like him so I thought I'd hear it out," Ainley explained.

"I talked to Charlie and he said 'go for it, if you don't take it I'm going to fire you.' So I had to take it."Ainley said Taylor was "over the moon" and so was he, having always wanted to test himself at Super Rugby level.

"You have to take these opportunities I guess."Ainley had to wait a long time for his debut, but it finally came in the round 14 win over the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein."I don't generally get nervous before games but I was anxious and I was definitely looking forward to it.

"Joe Wheeler and Red [Mark Reddish] and Tom Franklin were playing bloody well and they earned their positions ahead of me but I wanted to give it a crack and I just gave it everything."While Super Rugby is faster than anything he has ever played and the opposition are bigger - especially in South Africa - Ainley said his jobs has remained the same: "We tend to jump in lineouts, push in scrums, make tackles and hit rucks, and it's against most of the same guys I played in ITM.

"The Highlanders are certain to feature in the Super Rugby playoffs for a second consecutive year, but having been knocked out at the first stage last year, Ainley is hoping the Highlanders can go all the way - and the first step is securing a home playoff in Dunedin."That's what we've said all year, that we want to win the competition. It wasn't a joke or anything, we are serious about winning it."Having been fourth choice at the beginning of the season, Ainley is almost the last lock standing at the Highlanders, with Wheeler, Reddish and Franklin all out of Friday's final round match against the Blues in Auckland, with wider training squad members Joe Latta and Jackson Hemopo called in.

The Highlanders were trounced by the Hurricanes in Napier last weekend without their three All Blacks, and Ainley doesn't want another loss heading into the playoffs."The plan is to have another great game this week, destroy the Blues, get five points and get the home playoff down here."Obviously we can't go into it too cocky, we still have to win the game but it'll be good to get the playoffs underway.

"Ainley's contract with the Highlanders expires at the end of the current season, and if he's not offered another one Taylor has kept a job waiting for him in Nelson. He remains loyal to the Tasman Makos and doesn't want to play his provincial rugby anywhere else, and seems pretty keen to remain at the Highlanders for another year.

"The desire is still to play Super Rugby and I'd love to have another year with the Highlanders, I'm bloody loving it and at the moment that's as far as I'm looking. "I hadn't really spent much time in this part of the world but it's a good town, the wife and kids are enjoying, the oldest girl has just started school here and she's loving it too."