Time right to start Perenara against Pumas
TJ Perenara’s test resurgence has been a pleasing aspect of this impressive All Blacks season to date.
After being included in the squad for the June internationals solely as injury cover for Tawera Kerr-Barlow, the very man who cantered past him to claim the backup role to Aaron Smith at last year’s Rugby World Cup, the Hurricanes vice-captain has emphatically reclaimed the spot as second best halfback in New Zealand.
In doing so, he’s nibbled slightly away at Aaron Smith’s advantage at the front of the field while putting several lengths between himself and Kerr-Barlow in third, courtesy of an excellent last four months at Super Rugby and international level.
Those test efforts, highlighted by a simple yet impactful outing when replacing an out of sorts Smith against Argentina in Hamilton, have all come off the bench.
The timing seems right to see whether Perenara’s international reinvigoration-by-simplification can be as effective as a starting halfback.
His confidence is high, he knows what he has to do to best benefit the team and his execution in those key roles has improved markedly.
Steve Hansen and Ian Foster would probably say they don’t make changes for changes sake.
They are also pretty fond of “we know what this bloke can do, but we also need to find out if the other blokes can do it too”. They have also spoken about managing workloads.
Starting Perenara satisfies the first statement because it matches the second as well as the third given that Smith has played a lot of rugby this season.
He’s started all 16 of his games for the Highlanders, missing only the round 15 clash with the lowly Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth, and averaging 75 minutes per game.
Perenara played all 18 games for the Hurricanes at a slightly lower average 71 minutes per outing.
However, during the seven All Black internationals this season, all of which he has started; Smith has played an average of 64 minutes per test, while Perenara has played 105 minutes in six tests; under a quarter of Smith’s 448 minutes on the field.
Smith clearly has the most extra- ordinarily reservoir of energy. So how good would it be to have him come off the bench with 25 to 30 to go in Buenos Aires on Sunday morning?
It’s not a bad option to have “the best halfback in the world” as the back-up.
The other benefit to starting Perenara with Hurricanes teammate Beauden Barrett this week would be the selectors could either rest Barrett or use him off the bench next week in Durban while pairing up Aaron Smith with his Highlanders running mate Lima Sopoaga.
That’s because sometimes it’s about combinations. You can make cases for resting plenty of incumbents and looking at the next option but the Smith/Perenara swap is the most compelling.