Selwyn Times: August 12, 2020

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16 Wednesday August 12 2020 Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz Our People SELWYN TIMES Jason Pieztner Rugby boots and safety boots Veteran half-back Jason Pietzner, 39, played his 300th division one match for Lincoln last month. Matt Slaughter spoke to him about his career What have been your most memorable moments playing for Lincoln? I think all championships are memorable. We had a couple that probably stand out. We had a combined final at Waihora in 2014 and that stood out because we had been runners up and semi-finalists the previous sort three or four years without going the full distance, so that one there, it was almost a relief that we’d won that game. We had a run through the late 2000s into the early teens with the Murray Cooper [Memorial] Shield, which is the shield you play for at home against other Ellesmere sides. So, we had that for 10 years, which basically meant we were unbeaten at home for 10 years against other Ellesmere sides in round-robin play. Who are some of the best players you have played against or with? I’ve played with All Black Joe Moody, obviously, at Lincoln. I played with Joe at the club for a number years before he went further up the chain of representative levels. I would have played against, probably earlier in the days, the likes of Scott Hamilton. He was a Crusader, obviously. We played Sonny Bill Williams once, that was great. That was back for Canterbury Country. It might have been his first game of rugby union way back, that might have been in 2006 or 2007, or maybe later. I think I might have been on the end of a fend at one stage, but there was a great photo of some of the boys, a couple of the country boys who lifted him up in a tackle and basically got him up-ended, so that BOOTS OFF: Jason Pietzner pictured in his job as national sales manager for Safety & Apparel in Islington. PHOTO: GEOFF SLOAN was their claim to fame. That was Scott McIlroy out of Darfield, he got him in a good tackle. What are some of the best team performances you have been a part of? Back in 2011, I think we got on a bit of a run in the combined competition. We mucked our way through the round-robin but in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals we got a bit of a roll on and we ended up playing the final at home against Methven and pretty much steamrolled them. Probably a memorable year was back in 2015. We won the competition in 2014, we had a lot of player turnover that summer. Guys finishing or moving on, or whatever it might have been. Come pre-season the next year, the guys were only getting four or five guys turning up to training, so it was almost a call to arms. A lot of the older players who had been retired for maybe three of four years all put their hand up to come back to play. So, we had guys who hadn’t played for three or four years come back and play senior rugby and kind of, in a way, we saved the side from going to relegation or not putting a team together. That was a cool year because we were a bunch of old guys who were probably unfit, hadn’t played for a long time. We sort of battled our way through it and we held onto that [Murray Cooper Memorial Shield] that year. By all means, we should have been beaten probably two or three times. But it was just a good year BOOTS ON: Pietzner dots down for Lincoln against Waihora. PHOTO: KAREN CASEY based around guys that knew how to play a bit of rugby and we just played to our strengths and I look back and think that if we didn’t have a team that year, it would have taken probably three or four years to get a div one side back. What’s your secret for how you have been able to keep playing rugby at division one level for so long? I’m lucky enough that my wife (Nicole) is a personal trainer. Having someone who has personal training experience and a qualified nutritionist probably helps a fair way for the diet and motivation to keep yourself fit. She’s not too shy in telling me if I’ve let myself go a little bit or haven’t been doing things so that always keeps me on my toes. And I guess I always have reasonably high levels of expectations around fitness. I always wanted to make sure, if I was in a team, I was putting my best on the field at all times. As I’ve got older, I’ve sort of been a leader within teams. You kind of want to be at the forefront of your fitness and strength or performance. You always want to be at the forefront of it so younger guys look up and kind of set the guidelines or set the expectations. Tell me about the serious eye injury in 2018 which could have been career ending. It was a pre-season game, we were playing Kaiapoi and it was literally the last play of the game. We could have just kicked the ball out and finished it but I said to the boys we should probably run it and have one last play at it. Long story short, we kicked it up the field, chased through and I went to tackle their fullback and as he went into the tackle, he put a fend out and unfortunately with the timing, one of his fingers just went straight into my left eye and in and out. Out of that, I left my eye for a couple of weeks and it wasn’t really powered by people Tania McDonald Registered Legal Executive Your local expert in Residential Property, Wills, Powers of Attorney and Estate Planning E: tania.mcdonald@saunders.co.nz
SELWYN TIMES Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz Wednesday August 12 2020 17 for 300 game Lincoln veteran getting any better and something wasn’t quite right. I went and saw the local doctor here, and out of that, straight into pretty much eye surgery. I had a, not a detached retina, but a torn retina. They had basically two surgeries to make sure it fitted back in alright and I could continue using the eye, I guess. How soon were you able to return to rugby after the injury? It was a full year later. What has kept you playing rugby season after season? I guess it’s a real passion for the club itself. I’d hate to think that I’ve let someone down by not being available or not helping out when required, I guess would probably the main reason why. I still enjoy playing rugby, even at an older age. I still enjoy the physicality and the contact and that part of it. I always feel like I’ve got something to add and I think until I don’t have anything else to add or I can’t add any value, yeah, I probably will put my hand up as required. What has kept you playing for Lincoln? I think certainly friendships. I’ve created a lot of long-standing friendships in rugby, and not just at Lincoln, but representative Ellesmere rugby as well. I guess you tend to hang out with people that are like-minded. We create a winning culture and, being a competitive person, I play to win and we’ve been a pretty successful team over the last couple of decades. So that was probably another thing that’s probably brought us all together, which has kept us coming back, is that the fact that we were a pretty good team in that era. Are there any rugby players whose game you looked up to? I always liked Todd Blackadder, just because he was a battler. From a natural ability sort of thing, he had to really work hard week in, week out, I guess, on his own game to perform at the highest level and he got to the SALE Fashionable functional footwear HONOUR: Veteran half-back Jason Pietzner gets applauded onto the field for his 300th game for Lincoln against Darfield last month. PHOTO: PAUL DAWSON highest level of captaining the All Blacks. What is it like playing against your brother Gareth, who plays for Waihora? He’s up to about 286 games for Waihora, he’s played a lot of rugby too. I guess with Gareth, we’ve played a lot of Ellesmere rugby as well. We’ve played a lot of representative Ellesmere [for] Canterbury Country together, so there’s a lot of mutual respect. Even though it was a pretty fierce rivalry in the days, we had to come out of it as brothers as well, I guess, we didn’t have much choice in that. Neither of us got caught up in like a brother on brother rivalry at games. We’d just turn up and play and play hard and play reasonably fair. We’d always try and get one up on each other, whether it be a late tackle or maybe a sneaky ruck on the ground, just something to have a little bit of bragging rights at the end of the day. What are your best memories of celebrations after winning competitions or big games? Most of them we’ve ended up at the clubrooms. You work your way down to the pub and then gather back at the clubrooms the next day. The Sunday session would be the more memorable part and I think the more fun part because, kind of the pressure, off and you’ve had a chance to drink it up and drink away that night and the next day you sort of get together again and you sort of bring stories up. The Sunday sessions are probably the most fun part. Generally, that was a fancy dress or something along those lines. Tell me about your family and how supportive they have been of your rugby over the years? Very supportive. I don’t think you can do it without a bit of support. I’ve spent a lot of time away from family on Saturdays or during the weeks too, trainingwise on those Tuesday and Thursday nights. I’ve got two young girls now, Eva has just turned one and Elyse is three. And then, Chloe, she’s my stepdaughter, she’s 15. To have them there [at games] MEARES WILLIAMS LAWYERS is quite nice, it changes from being all about yourself. To have your family there as well, you share the moment, share the experience. My mother Christine Pietzner [maiden name Cottrell] was a Silver Fern netballer and my uncle Wayne Cottrell was an All Black, so we’ve got a bit of sporting in our genes. What do you do for a job? My job is national sales manager for Safety & Apparel Ltd. We are a 100 per cent New Zealand owned safety supply company, with head office in Hamilton and branches in Islington and Auckland. I’m tasked with looking after our key accounts and leading our sales team nationally. 10 Years in Selwyn Richard Gray Kate Warren Anita Molloy-Roberts Belinda Ferguson Emma-Jane Moore W: www.meareswilliams.co.nz T: (03) 374 2547 E: reception @meareswilliams.co.nz Fashionable • Functional • Footwear Unit 3, 355 Riccarton Rd, Upper Riccarton P. (03) 929 0927 E. info@theshoeroom.co.nz www.theshoeroom.co.nz ROLLESTON OFFICE 78 Rolleston Drive, Rolleston Offices also located at: 43 Gerald Street, Lincoln 225 Papanui Road, Christchurch
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Selwyn Times: August 12, 2020

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