A big fortnight for SBW

It ought to be a big couple of weeks in the career of Sonny Bill Williams. By right, the second five-eighth’s status as a certain starter in the All Blacks should be up for review. No-one doubts the 33-year-old’s pedigree and range of skills, but questions persist about how much he’s still capable of producing at test level.

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen will tell you all that’s missing is time in the saddle. Let Williams string some games together and any doubts about his lofty status will be banished.

Again, no-one pretends Williams isn’t a good player. For a time he was among the very best in the National Rugby League and he has been a dynamic, influential All Black too. He’s smart and professional and blessed with the best offloading skills around, but should that entitle him to a mortgage on the No 12 jersey?

These two games against England and Ireland will provide a useful pointer.

Hansen loves Williams and there’s nothing to suggest he won’t start him in the next fortnight. The coach says Williams needs rugby and he won’t get that on the subs’ bench or in the stands.

But if he does play at Twickenham and the Aviva Stadium and makes the odd error, or is shown up on defence, what then? For how long is Williams entitled to prove his credentials before that same opportunity is afforded to someone else?

It wasn’t long ago that, if fit, a combination of Williams and Ryan Crotty looked certain to be the starting midfield for every match of significance. But the emergence of centre Jack Goodhue has changed that thinking. Not just in terms of who wears 12 and 13, but who you put on the bench as well.

Anton Lienert-Brown has consistently proved a success as the midfield sub and would Crotty and Williams, as players accustomed to starting, add the same impact? Never mind Ngani Laumape, whose whole game is about impact and getting over the gainline and putting playmakers such as Beauden Barrett and Richie Mo’unga on the front foot.

Told he was one-dimensional, Laumape’s gone away and tried to broaden his game and, yes, it might only have been against Japan, but he still put a skip pass on Dane Coles’ chest for one try and created others with kicks off either foot. None of which is a big part of Williams’ repertoire, for instance.

Broadening the discussion to take in the whole backline, some very, very good players aren’t going to crack New Zealand’s best 15 or 23 next year or even get on the trip to the Rugby World Cup in Japan. Damian McKenzie, Waisake Naholo, Nehe Milner-Skudder, Jordie Barrett, George Bridge, Matt Proctor, Laumape, Lienert-Brown and Mo’unga are all guys who aren’t guaranteed big minutes or a place in the squad.

Should Williams, and perhaps Crotty, fall into that bracket too? These next two weeks might provide a clue.