MEN OF INFLUENCE
THERE ARE CERTAIN PLAYERS WHO WILL MAKE ENORMOUS AND TELLING CONTRIBUTIONS IN THIS YEAR’S COMPETITION. WE PICK 12 WHO WE THINK YOU SHOULD WATCH OUT FOR.
1 BEN SMITH [Highlanders]
KEY ASSETS CLEAN BREAKS No DEFENDERSin 2016: 29 BEATEN Ranking: 2nd No in 2016: 51 Ranking: 6th BALL CARRIES No in 2016: 149 Ranking: 9th How he exerts his Influence Ben Smith’s game is built on many facets but none more so than his footwork, vision, decision making and uncanny timing. He’s the master at beating the first defender and then buying himself time and space to make use of the ball. That’s what makes him so good for the Highlanders – he sparks so much of their attacking play.
No one in the Highlanders carries the ball more than Smith. That is deliberate – they want him to be the man who makes things happen.
It’s not quite true to say that their gameplan is all about getting the ball in Smith’s hands, but then it is not far off the truth either. What he’s particular good at is coming in as first receiver and making an early and decisive decision about what he is going to do. The speed at which he thinks and then moves usually stops defences from being able to shut him down.
Few players pick such good lines and pop up in such cunning places and a huge number of the Highlanders tries come from Smith’s well-timed intrusions. Put it this way, they wouldn’t be anywhere near the same team without him.
2 BEAUDEN BARRETT [Hurricanes]
KEY ASSETS KICKING No BALLin 2016: CARRIES 279 Ranking: 1st No in 2016: 131 Ranking: 15th METRES GAINED No in 2016: 847 Ranking: 16th How he exerts his Influence It’s hard to nail down the essence of Barrett other than to say he is just one of those rare players who is an all-round brilliant footballer. He can do everything. He is fantastically quick and agile. He is strong, he sees the game well, he is confident and he has a phenomenal range of kicking and handling skills.
He uses all of that to run into holes, makes space for those around him and pulls off the impossible. His stats show is that he is one of the best backfield No 10s in world rugby. He has played test rugby at fullback and he uses that to his advantage – dropping deep to cover kicks and then launch counter attacks. His ability to make ground and open defences from deep inside his own territory is unrivalled.
It’s easy to think of Beauden Barrett as one of the great running first-fives and see that as his key contribution.
But in actual fact, the numbers show that he exerts more influence with his boot. He kicks a lot and he mostly kicks well and cleverly. He is in possession of a vast repertoire of attacking kicks and is superb at finding ways to put the ball behind a defence and regather.
3 DAMIAN McKENZIE [Chiefs]
DEFENDERSNo KEY in ASSETS2016: 67 BEATEN Ranking: 1st OFFLOADS No in 2016: 28 Ranking: 2nd METRES GAINED No in 2016: 1304 Ranking: 1st How he exerts his Influence There were times last year when it felt Damian McKenzie was permanently in possession of the ball – which he might have been as he did carry it 215 times to top the rankings.
He’s so quick and elusive, so willing to take the defence on that he became the sort of player that opposition defences had to plan pretty hard to shut down. By no means a big man, McKenzie is all about pace, footwork and opportunity.
He’ll see a hole and go for it without thinking and then he’ll back himself to throw an offload or clever pass to keep the continuity.
He was the catalyst for many of the Chiefs’ best attacks when they were in a purple patch in the first 10 rounds and he just kept finding ways to break the defence and score tries.
4 ARDIE SAVEA [Hurricanes]
TURNOVERKEY ASSETS STEALING No in 2016: 25 Ranking: 1st TACKLES No in 2016: 205 Ranking: 1st BALL CARRIES No in 2016: 146 Ranking: 10th How he exerts his Influence Ardie Savea is the forward version of Barrett. He is a supremely gifted athlete and brilliant rugby player. He brings to the table a huge portfolio of skills – speed, strength, vision, handling, running, tackling and bravery over the ball at the turnover.
Savea can do pretty much anything and he can contribute in multiple ways. Last year he pulled off critical turnovers that killed opposition attacks. He made a ridiculous number of tackles, he carried the ball an enormous amount for a forward – but did so in open space where he was able to beat defenders, offload or play others into space. A brilliant support runner, he beat 37 defenders, which is more than most backs.
5 ISRAEL FOLAU [Waratahs]
BALLNo KEY in ASSETS2016: CARRIES173 Ranking: 4th OFFLOADS No in 2016: 24 Ranking: 4th DEFENDERS BEATEN No in 2016: 55 Ranking: 4th How he exerts his Influence Israel Folau is largely about one thing – his incredible running power. He is, arguably, the most deadly player in Super Rugby when the ball is in his hands and he is attacking the defence.
He’s quick. Seriously quick. At 1.95m and 110kg, he’s a big, big man with long limbs that defenders find hard to deal with.
His particular skill is to take the ball standing still and blast into top gear in a few strides and suddenly be through the first two tackles and away. Once he’s away, you can forget about catching him and the danger with Folau is that if he only half gets away, he’s one of the best offloaders in the business.
The Waratahs used him well at centre last year where he was on the ball more and challenging the line more directly.
6 RUAN COMBRINCK [Lions]
CLEANNo KEY in ASSETS2016: BREAKS31 Ranking: 1st DEFENDERS BEATEN No in 2016: 57 Ranking: 3rd METRES GAINED No in 2016: 1276 Ranking: 3rd How he exerts his Influence Strong and fast with an innate sense of where to be, Ruan Combrinck is a natural finisher. But he’s more than that.
He’s not the sort of wing who waits for the ball to come to him and he came off his wing to great effect last year. With a high work rate he’s able to get on the outside of defenders and then feed the ball back inside to support runners.
While he’s mostly about his pace and work rate, he’s a natural footballer, too. He can land long-range goals, can kick extraordinary well out of hand and has a neat offloading game.
7 KIERAN READ [Crusaders]
KEY ASSETS LINEOUT TAKES No in 2016: 54 Ranking: 10th OFFLOADS No in 2016: 15 Ranking: 25th LINEOUT STEALS No in 2016: 4 Ranking: 5th How he exerts his Influence Kieran Read is one of the competition’s best aerial performers. He keeps the Crusaders lineout in great shape and, as everyone knows, he’s superb at calling to himself, getting high and feeding clean ball off the top.
He’s also one of the better lineout stealers and kickoff takers. But he’s also got a fine range of ball skills that are well utilised when he roams wide and uses his offloading to good effect.
He’s a big part of the Crusaders’ continuity game and he also makes a lot of thumping tackles – the sort that hurt opponents and change the momentum of games.
8 JAMES LOWE [Chiefs]
KEY ASSETS OFFLOADING No in 2016: 26 Ranking: 3rd BALL CARRIES No in 2016: 157 Ranking: 7th METRES GAINED No in 2016: 1062 Ranking: 6th How he exerts his Influence James Lowe’s offloading was a huge feature of the Chiefs’ attacking game last year. He was superb at heading down his wing and then managing to take the contact on the touchline and feed the ball back inside to his support runners.
The Chiefs were averaging five tries per game at one stage and much of it was due to the influence Lowe was exerting through his linebreaking and passing. He’s also got a huge left boot and is able to turn defence into attack with long raking punts downfield.
9 MELANI NANAI [Blues]
KEY ASSETS CLEAN BREAKS No in 2016: 22 Ranking: 24th OFFLOADS No in 2016: 20 Ranking: 7th METRES GAINED No in 2016: 821 Ranking: 18th How he exerts his Influence Melani Nanai got off to a rocky start last season. He couldn’t wield much influence in the early games and ended up being dropped. But when he was thrust back into the team due to injuries midway through the campaign, he was a different player. He scored an insanely good solo try against the Chiefs and never looked back.
He’s an agile runner – difficult to pin down and hit, and that explains why he clocked such good running metres for someone who missed a handful of games. Seems to be able to step his way into space and the more he was involved last year, the better the Blues played.
10 DANE HAYLETTPETTY [Force]
KEY ASSETS METRES GAINED No in 2016: 1283 Ranking: 2nd DEFENDERS BEATEN No in 2016: 54 Ranking: 5th BALL CARRIES No in 2016: 200 Ranking: 2nd How he exerts his Influence Dane HaylettPetty had a thankless task as fullback for the Force. A lot of his work was performed under pressure going backwards. But he was tidy, accurate and inspirational.
A good operator under the high ball, he moves well to cover the space and he was fantastic at cleaning up dangerous situations and turning them into attacking forays.
Has a booming boot and used that as well to put up and win a number of contestable kicks and keep the Force going forward.
11 LIMA SOPOAGA [Highlanders]
KEY ASSETS KICKING No in 2016: 200 Ranking: 3rd GOAL KICKING Percentage in 2016: 72 How he exerts his Influence So he doesn’t have as many stats to prove his worth – except with his kicking, both out of hand and for goal.
He is a good pressure goalkicker and he landed a number of tough kicks that kept the Highlanders in touch when they were threatening to drift out of the game, or nudged them that little bit further in front when they needed breathing space. Remember his longrange penalty in the quarterfinal?
But his real influence comes through his superb decision making and tactical control. Ben Smith may spark the Highlanders but Sopoaga steers them.
12 SAMU KEREVI [Reds]
KEY ASSETS BALL CARRIES No in 2016: 182 Ranking: 3rd METRES GAINED No in 2016: 988 Ranking: 7th OFFLOADS No in 2016: 23 Ranking: 5th How he exerts his Influence Big man, likes to hit the line hard and hold a direct path. Nothing fancy but constant effort and power enabled him to bash holes and ignite the Reds attack.
He is a bit like Ma’a Nonu in that he is a power runner with a bit of ballplaying finesse. Earned a call up to the Wallabies on account of his ability to get over the gainline and make good use of the ball, and after a slow start in the test arena, he eventually settled and became just as usual at the next level up.