TWIN TOWERS
SAM WHITELOCK AND BRODIE RETALLICK HAVE DEVELOPED INTO ONE OF THE BEST LOCKING COMBINATIONS IN WORLD RUGBY AND THEIR IMPORTANCE TO THE ALL BLACKS IS ENORMOUS.
As much as it was a night to celebrate, the All Blacks’ world record victory against Australia last October at Eden Park came with a couple of hidden worries.
The first was that the All Blacks knew they had ridden their luck to win their 18th consecutive test. They hadn’t played particularly well – they were a little error-ridden, nervy and loose at times in a way they hadn’t been all season.
They had been hugely fortunate that a refereeing decision midway through the second half went their way. Nigel Owens chalked off a Henry Speight try that would have put the Wallabies, playing with some confidence and authority, ahead and in control of the game.
But Owens said that Dane Haylett-Petty had obstructed Julian Savea in the process and awarded the All Blacks a penalty instead. A few minutes later, Savea touched down under the posts and while that paved the way for a 32-17 victory, the Wallabies were rightly furious.
“Obviously I can’t say anything because they’ve got you by the throat. I’ve just never seen shepherding from behind before,” fumed Wallabies coach Michael Cheika. His opposite, Steve Hansen, knew Cheika was right.
And yet, the fortuitous nature of the win wasn’t the major concern. What troubled Hansen more was the ankle injury incurred by lock Sam Whitelock and the concussion picked up by his second-row partner Brodie Retallick.
The twin towers were not, as a result, going to be on the plane with the rest of the squad to Chicago to play Ireland. They would be left at home to recuperate, with both hopeful they would return to play against Ireland in Dublin on November 19.
All the usual things were said in the
wake of those two being ruled out. It would be an opportunity to test the depth of the squad. A chance for the likes of Luke Romano, Patrick Tuipulotu and Scott Barrett to show what they could do.
Injury, after all, had so rarely derailed the All Blacks in the last decade. They had been able to weather the absence of almost every player. Even losing Daniel Carter in the 2011 World Cup hadn’t seen their campaign come flying off the rails.
The All Blacks were confident they would be able to perform in the USA without their two senior ball winners. Even when Romano was forced to fly home before the test due to a family matter, the confidence was still there that the All Blacks were going to compete well even if Jerome Kaino was being forced into the unfamiliar position of lock.
Kaino had played there off the bench so he had some experience and an athlete of his standing and physicality was being backed to be able to adjust.
It didn’t happen that way. Kaino didn’t adjust. The All Blacks didn’t adjust and they looked to be an entirely different team without their first choice locks.
Their lineout fell apart. They were sloppy at kickoffs. They had less grunt and presence in the collisions and, strangely, Kaino didn’t carry the ball up the middle of the field with the same venom and authority as Retallick.
Ireland dominated the All Blacks in the key areas as a result and won against New Zealand for the first time in 111 years of trying.
The All Blacks had to accept their defeat – they knew they had been outplayed and they also knew, a little to their surprise, that they were more reliant on Whitelock and Retallick than they realised.
The situation had been made worse by the late loss of Romano, meaning that they had to start the test with fourth-choice Tuipulotu and the non-specialist Kaino, with the uncapped Barrett on the bench.
It wasn’t a true reflection of their stocks in that area but it served as compelling evidence of the qualities brought by Whitelock and Retallick and how much they needed them back ahead of the test in Dublin.
Even Ireland acknowledged in their euphoria that the All Blacks were not quite the same threat without their big men and when both were passed fit to play in Ireland two weeks later, the contest took on a different perspective.
Ireland’s Devin Toner, who had been such an influential figure at Soldier Field, knew the battle in Dublin would be different.
“They are obviously two world-class second rows,” he said. “They have a lot of experience between them, they play together a lot, so that will bring an extra edge to their lineout, which they didn’t have against us the last time.
“They will also give another dimension to their game. They are very used to link play in the middle of the field, they are very good at pop passes, out-theback passes... you can see that their skills are hugely significant to what the team want to do.
“When they [All Blacks] miss them, they really did miss them.”
Toner was spot on. The All Blacks were vastly improved and their lineout returned to its best. They were tighter in the scrum, more effective in the collisions and Retallick smashed the ball up the middle of the field and drove the Irish back.
The All Blacks won 21-9 and they headed off to Paris without any shred of doubt as to the importance and value of their preferred locks.
It’s not always easy to appreciate the value of tight forwards. The work they do is not glamorous or always overt.
In terms of high profile or most valued combinations, everyone got instantly what Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith brought to the All Blacks.
But now that they have retired, the All Blacks’ most valuable and high impact combination is Whitelock and Retallick.
These two have become something special and if they aren’t already the best locking partnership in All Blacks’ history, they will in time become that.
The All Blacks capture the imagination with what they do with the ball. The linebreakers and decision-makers such as Beauden Barrett, Ben Smith, Israel Dagg and Julian Savea tend to hog the headlines.
That’s rugby – the glory boys are out in the open, lighting the game up with their pace and magic. But they can only do that because the men in front of them are providing the right sort of platform and as much as the All Blacks appear to be about style, they are really all about substance.
Pick any great game they have played in the last three years and the common thread will be the dominance of their pack and within that, the efforts of Whitelock and Retallick have been integral.
The destruction of the
HE’S A WORLD-CLASS LOCK AND TOGETHER WITH BRODIE RETALLICK FORMS ONE OF THE BEST INTERNATIONAL LOCKING PARTNERSHIPS IN WORLD RUGBY AT PRESENT.’ STEVE HANSEN
French in the World Cup quarterfinal was built on the work rate and crunch provided by the two locks. That was the case with the demolition of the Wallabies at Eden Park in 2014 and again in Sydney last year.
These two have helped transform the All Blacks into a fearsome unit. They have taken the collective ability of the forwards to a new level and given the tight five an intimidatory feel.
They bring set-piece excellence, physicality, athleticism, ball playing skills and genuine edge. Not many people are overly keen to cheap shot either Whitelock or Retallick as they know there will be consequences.
What it all means is that the All Blacks are a clever illusion. They give the impression they are all about the X-factor: that what separates them is the extreme abilities of a handful of their backs.
That’s not really how it is, though. Their success is primarily driven by the ability of their forwards to do all the gnarly bits. They are not a triumph of style over substance. They are, if anything, all about the substance and none of the clever handling or excellence of the backs would be on view if it weren’t for Whitelock and Retallick.
These two are the pillars on which the All Blacks are built and individually they would both make any list of All Blacks greats. Whitelock, who made his debut in 2010, has become one of the best aerial forwards in world rugby.
At 2.02m he’s a natural athlete with spring and agility and he’s combined those qualities with relentless analysis to build his understanding of how the set-piece works.
If there was a moment to signal his coming of age it was in the 2015 World Cup semifinal with eight minutes to go. Whitelock managed to out-jump the vaunted Victor Matfield, steal the ball and allow the All Blacks to kick themselves out of trouble.
It was a huge moment and it confirmed just what a force Whitelock has become in that area. But he’s more than just a jumper.
He’s a ball carrier and a ball player, too and such is his ability at the breakdown, that the All Blacks consider him a possible blindside and have used him there late in tests.
He’s also one of the best and most prolific tacklers in the team and his work rate is phenomenal. What’s maybe not so well known is how he’s transformed his body shape since he became a test player.
Whitelock was 108kg when he won his first cap. He’ll be playing against the Lions at his new fighting weight of 122kg and, while he’s bigger and more powerful, it has not come at any cost to his mobility.
It was no wonder that he was one of the highest priorities for the New Zealand Rugby Union to re-sign earlier this year. The national body threw as much cash at Whitelock as they could and were ecstatic when he agreed to extend his contract until 2020.
“He’s a world-class lock and together with Brodie Retallick forms one of the best international locking partnerships in world rugby at present,” Hansen said.
“Sam is also a great contributor to our environment: he thinks a lot about the game, is a flexible thinker, leads very well within the group and has become a very, very important component in the All Blacks. Once again, it’s great to have another one of our key men re-sign with New Zealand Rugby.”
All of the same sentiments can be applied to Retallick. He came into Super Rugby in 2012 at a time when no one was sure how the All Blacks were going to adequately replace the bruising Brad Thorn who had just retired.
Retallick had been part of the 2011 New Zealand Under 20
side that had won the Junior World Championship, but no one was expecting him to be the man to full Thorn’s shoes.
But he was brilliant for the Chiefs. He played with the confidence and presence of a veteran and won his first test cap in June, becoming a regular feature by 2013.
Few players have taken to test football as quickly as Retallick and as evidence of his freakish ability, he was crowned World Player of the Year in 2014. He was the first tight forward to win the coveted award and he won it because, really, there was no other choice.
Retallick had been outstanding all year. He won lineout ball, kickoffs, cleaned out with venom, smashed men in the tackle and, best of all, he carried the ball amazingly well up the middle of the park.
That was his trump card – being on hand as first receiver to drive over the gainline and invariably play someone into space. He’s so powerful and angular and clever with his running lines, defenders can’t bring him down the way they would like.
Perhaps the greatest compliment to Retallick was inadvertently paid by Kaino after the loss in Chicago. The veteran flanker had been desperate to play a similar role to Retallick – carry the ball straight and hard up the middle – that he perhaps spent too long thinking about it.
“That role of playing in the middle of the park was new to him and he probably overthought it a little bit and he, therefore, didn’t carry as strongly as he possibly could,” said Hansen. “Before the match you would have said that would have been his strength.”
Kaino made the mistake of trying to be Retallick – an impossible task indeed.
It’s difficult to recall a better balanced or more effective All Blacks locking combination than Whitelock and Retallick.
In the professional age there have been some solid partnerships. Ian Jones and Robin Brooke were a potent package for a long period in the early-to-mid 1990s. They were different athletes with complementary skills and they provided the All Blacks with everything they needed.
Chris Jack and Ali Williams were probably the next regular pairing that developed a unity and cohesion that made them a handful and for one year, Williams and Thorn had a nice mix of aerial skills and grunt.
But Whitelock and Retallick have taken things to a new level. They bring a combined 244kg to the boiler house and at 2.02m and 2.04m respectively, they are big, big men.
Where they are different is in their athleticism and mobility because they defy their size. They both jump well, they both carry well, they both tackle well and they both have the ability to play 80 minutes.
In the four years they have been together as a first choice pairing they have developed an almost instinctive reading of one another and a sixth sense to work in harmony.
That’s why since 2013 there hasn’t been any genuine competition in the second row. That’s not to say the All Blacks haven’t developed other strong options there. Romano is an
I DON’T THINK IT WAS INTENDED TO BE A TRENDSETTING OR GAME-CHANGING STRATEGY... WE LOOKED AT BRODIE AND SAM AND FELT THAT WE HAD TWO LOCKS WHO ARE GENERALLY 80-MINUTE MEN AND DO THAT JOB SO WELL.’ IAN FOSTER
excellent tight lock. So too is Tuipulotu, or at least he will be when he learns the finer arts of his craft. Barrett has enormous potential and will probably become a world class operator in time, but as good as these players are, there is daylight between them and Whitelock and Retallick.
Never was that better illustrated than at the 2015 World Cup when the All Blacks defied convention by only picking three specialist locks in their 31-man squad. If that was a risk, they took an even bigger one by going through the knockout rounds without a specialist on the bench.
It was almost unthinkable but it was a decision the selectors felt comfortable making. They knew that, but for injury, they wouldn’t be likely to replace either Whitelock or Retallick during the game.
Both were so important that they would be going the distance. And if they did incur injuries, then the All Blacks felt they had adequate cover in the likes of Kaino and Kieran Read.
Of all the stories that came out of the 2015 World Cup, the fact the All Blacks won with just two specialist locks in their matchday 23 for the biggest games of the tournament is perhaps the one that hasn’t been fully appreciated.
“I don’t think it was intended to be a trendsetting or game-changing strategy,” says All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster. “It was a strategy based on our personnel and our gameplan. We looked at Brodie and Sam and felt that we had two locks who are generally 80-minute men and do that job so well.
“We had Patrick Tuipulotu who was injured and out of the cup so when we added those variables together and looked at the ability of JK [Kaino] and Reado [Kieran Read] to cover, that’s why we went with that.
“It suited the group of players we had but was made easier by the fact we wanted to play a mobile game and we are not trying to assess our locks on set-piece alone.”
The Lions series is going to be the ultimate test of just how good Whitelock and Retallick are.
The Lions are coming with a simple gameplan. They have picked bruising, confrontational tight forwards who are going to be tasked with attacking the All Blacks at set-piece and in the collisions.
Without saying so, the Lions obviously feel they can beat the All Blacks up – certainly challenge them hard enough in the crunchy areas to put the home side under pressure and prevent them building their attacking game.
It’s not necessarily a bad plan. The Lions have players such as Courtney Lawes, Maro Itoje and Alun Wyn Jones who are physical and athletic.
They are good, good players and combined with Ireland’s Peter O’Mahony who is one of the better lineout organisers in the Northern Hemisphere, they will pose the All Blacks problems.
I AM STILL GENUINELY EXCITED TO BE PLAYING RUGBY FOR THESE TEAMS, AND I FEEL LIKE THERE IS STILL PLENTY MORE TO ACHIEVE.’ SAM WHITELOCK
But for all the thinking that says it will be the All Blacks who have to prove their worth in the confrontational and ball-winning stakes, the sharper analysis says that the real pressure will come on the Lions.
The All Blacks lineout, Chicago aside, was one of their key weapons in 2016. They went through the first three tests of the Rugby Championship without losing a lineout.
They don’t look vulnerable there at all. Whitelock is rarely bettered by anyone in the air. Most lineout battles he ends up winning because his timing is so good on his own ball and his reading of opposition patterns is world class. Maybe he won’t dominate the Lions in the air, but he’ll steal a few key throws, niggle them and frustrate them.
Probably more importantly, what he’ll do is fill them with doubt that they might have got things horribly wrong believing the All Blacks were vulnerable there. It’s a little like Sun Tzu’s Art of War – make them think you are weak where you are strong.
The All Blacks’ scrum is also rock solid. Mostly dominant but always competitive and so much power comes from the second row. The Lions will be strong there too – but strong enough to exact penalties and send the All Blacks into a tail spin..? Unlikely.
Whitelock and Retallick simply won’t let it happen and that can be said across every core facet of the tight game. The Lions are going to encounter two brilliant players in the prime of their respective careers and, also, very much in form.
Whitelock, especially, has been superb leading into the Lions series. His elevation to the captaincy at the Crusaders has brought even more out of him and he’s looked sharper than he’s ever been.
He’s also hugely motivated having re-signed for another three years. “When I considered whether my immediate playing future was here in New Zealand and Christchurch, I didn’t need to look far for the answer,” he says.
“My wife Hannah and I have recently welcomed a new addition to our family, I am still genuinely excited to be playing rugby for these teams, and I feel like there is still plenty more to achieve.
“There is more than enough to motivate me to keep playing and performing for these teams.”
It took New Zealand a while to appreciate just what they have in Whitelock and Retallick. The Lions might discover the power and value of these two way quicker.