Boyd v Hansen
Players at centre of selection row may yet face each other in test, writes Gregor Paul.
Where it all started
There is a chance that later this year, long-term Hurricanes team-mates Brad Shields and Vaea Fifita will find themselves opposing each other in a test.
Should Shields, who has already qualified through his parentage, turn out for England against the All Blacks on November 10 at Twickenham and pit his wits against Fifita, it will potentially provide a platform of sorts to close a debate that is believed to have simmered for the past 18 months.
As has been recently revealed, some degree of tension has existed between Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd and All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen.
Only those two know the true extent of it, but the source is a little easier to guess — a difference in professional opinion about the merits of Shields and Fifita.
Both coaches hold both players in the highest esteem, but there seems little doubt Boyd felt Shields should have been higher up the All Blacks pecking order than Fifita.
Had Shields been called up to the All Blacks last year to compete for the No 6 jersey with Liam Squire and Jerome Kaino, it is possible, maybe even probable, that he would have extended his contract to stay in New Zealand.
But he was overlooked, the All Blacks instead preferring Fifita, and Shields, having given New Zealand rugby his all for seven years, decided to sign with Wasps and attempt to crack the England team when he arrives in London at the end of this Super Rugby campaign.
Understandably, Boyd may have felt a little miffed the man he used as stand-in captain last year wasn’t able to win an All Blacks call-up.
He may feel slighted, professionally at least, that the All Blacks saw things differently: that they raved about the athletic abilities and potential of Fifita as a blindside when the Hurricanes had spent most of 2016 playing him as a lock.
Possibly Boyd felt that his assessment of the two players was somehow judged by the All Blacks coaches as some kind of basic failing: indicative of a lack of feel for what qualities mattered.
But in truth, whatever degree of friction existed was most likely caused by the inherent and growing differences between Super Rugby and test rugby and the frustration both coaches would have felt at not quite being able to get their own way.
New Zealand’s central contracting system is set up on a shared intelligence basis to ensure Super Rugby coaches know how the All Blacks coaches are thinking.
The idea is to build an aligned development path for the players and although the system is imperfect, it usually works.
Coaches are usually on the same page when it comes to the best use of individuals.
But not always and the case of Shields and Fifita would be one of the more extreme cases of the past few seasons when the needs and desires of a Super Rugby coach differed so greatly from that of the national panel.
The question of why is relatively easy to answer: Shields has been outstanding for the Hurricanes.
He’s tough, resilient, dynamic and relentless, and he took his game to new levels last year. Shields posted a raft of impressive stats — making 158 tackles and carrying the ball 134 times — some of the highest in the competition.
That kind of graft and commitment was a key factor in why the Hurricanes reached the last four in defence of their Super Rugby title and Boyd, and no doubt many others, have wondered why the All Blacks haven’t rewarded Shields with a call-up.
Again, that is relatively easy to answer. The All Blacks have similar, but in their view more dynamic, skilled and higher-impact hard men, in Kaino, Squire and Kieran Read.
Fifita brings an entirely different portfolio and one which the All Blacks feel is better suited to test rugby.
They have also been adamant that Fifita, playing at 107kg in 2016 and then 116kg last year, is not big enough to be a lock in test rugby.
And that it would be a chronic waste to play him there anyway given he’s thought to be the second quickest All Black in the country and has recorded one of the highest standing leaps — a measure of explosive ability — since the national team started keeping records.
The All Blacks can’t resist his athleticism and the opportunity to develop it.
“Vaea’s a really, really good athlete. Probably one of the best athletes I’ve had anything to do with, from a natural just sheer ability [point of view],” Hansen said last year when he named Fifita to start against Argentina in New Plymouth.
“So I want to see a real physical beast that we know he can be. But we also want to see him do his core roles, you know, dominate in the tackle, dominate when he carries, use his ball skills in the contact area as well. So we’re expecting a lot from him because we believe he’s got a lot in him. We’re going to aim high for him and he needs to aim high as well, and if we aim high, I think he’ll hit the target.”
Shields will see out this campaign with the Hurricanes and while he won’t arrive at Wasps until August, he’s thought to have a reasonable chance of fast-tracking his way into the England set-up.
Coach Eddie Jones has already sounded him out and while England are arguably the form team in the world, if they have a weakness, it is perhaps in their loose trio mix.
What looms as the most fascinating contest in an age could potentially have another compelling subplot if Shields and Fifita end up going head-to-head at Twickenham.
Vaea [Fifita] is a really, really good athlete. Probably one of the best athletes I’ve had anything to do with. All Blacks coach Steve Hansen