Although the rain was bucketing down at Chiefs training this morning, Māori All Blacks head coach Clayton McMillan was excited by the announcement of the Māori All Blacks 2021 programme.
"It's always a privilege to be able to play for the Māori team. We are really grateful there is a programme this year, and that it is on home soil because we know how much it means to everyone."
The Steinlager Series will kick off on Saturday, July 3, with the All Blacks playing at Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland, for the first time in what will be a historic test against Tonga. The event is also a double-header with the Māori All Blacks playing Manu Samoa beforehand.
The first test for the Māori All Blacks against Samoa is confirmed but there are discussions continuing over an extra fixture for the Māori All Blacks.
"Samoa always presents a challenge, playing the same team two weeks in a row, if that's what happens. Obviously learn a bit from the first game, the second one inevitably harder. So if that's the track that we go down, that has a level of excitement but, if it's someone else, that brings a unique set of challenges too."
"With the All Blacks playing, Māori All Blacks, and the other Pacific nations playing in the heart of South Auckland, you would expect huge crowds to turn up and there would be real tribal warfare seeing the level of engagement, and what the Tongan rugby league teams have done there."
McMillan also understands the rivalry whenever Pacific cousins play each other.
"Every team is hard, and the beauty about playing the game here in Aotearoa is that it really doesn't matter if we are playing the Fijians, the Samoans, the Tongans, it's like playing your brothers in your backyard and you know there is no love lost and you certainly wanna go out and win."
As the Waikato Chiefs interim coach this year while Warren Gatland has been on Lions duty, McMillan has learned greatly from the exposure to this level of coaching
"I got to know a lot of the players a lot more and being exposed to this level is only going to be beneficial to me when I go into the Māori environment."
2021 Steinlager Series
All Blacks vs Tonga, Saturday 3 July, 7.05 PM, plus Māori All Blacks vs Manu Samoa (kick-off TBC), Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland
All Blacks vs Fiji, Saturday 10 July, 7.05 PM, Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
All Blacks vs Fiji, Saturday 17 July, 7.05 PM, plus Tonga vs Samoa (kick-off TBC), FMG Stadium Waikato, Hamilton
