Losing Faumuina will cost All Blacks dearly
The impending departure of Charlie Faumuina is one the All Blacks are going to take hard.
The giant Blues prop has been an established part of the game-day squad since 2014, but he is joining Toulouse after the Lions series.
The All Blacks will miss him. They have built a supremely effective onetwo punch at tighthead prop with Owen Franks typically blunting opponents with 50 minutes of spade work and Faumuina finishing them off in the last half-hour.
On Saturday, it was Faumuina who was on at tighthead when the All Blacks delivered their game-winning scrum to create Rieko Ioane's first try.
It took a special sort of player to come off the bench and deliver a scrum like that, no matter how much groundwork had been previously laid.
It is perhaps taken for granted how well the All Blacks use their front-row replacements to either retain their ascendancy or find another gear.
But that seamless transition of Faumuina and Franks will end after the third test and the All Blacks don't have another tighthead with remotely the same experience or ability.
The gap between Franks and Faumuina is marginal. They start in the order they do, not necessarily because there is a hierarchy, more because their combination delivers greater impact when the agile, ballplaying Faumuina comes on later in the game when there tends to be more space.
He made his decision to leave last year — although it was announced only early this year — after deciding he'd achieved everything he wanted to in New Zealand.
“I guess it was just the different challenge,” he said in April. “I have been here [Blues] for close to 10 years now and I'm not saying that it is getting boring or anything, but I feel like I have done my time and have nothing more to prove.
“I just felt that I had the opportunity to do something else and go somewhere else with my family. Financially it was also a pretty good deal.”
It was a decision All Black coach Steve Hansen respected but challenged. He felt Faumuina, at just 30, still had another World Cup in him and plenty left to prove.
But it wasn't a battle Hansen could win and after this Lions series, he and his fellow coaches will have to fast track the development of Ofa Tu'ungafasi, who at the moment is the preferred replacement.
The 25-year-old has won four caps to date and while he may not start regularly for the Blues, excites the All Blacks with his athleticism.
He is 1.95m and 130kg yet comparatively lean and exceptionally mobile. He can deliver beyond his core roles, which is always what the All Blacks look for.
The major work in progress is his scrummaging. That needs to improve and there is no other way than to throw him out there during the Rugby Championship. It will most likely be a learn-as-you-go apprenticeship when the time comes — a case of coming off the bench for 20 minutes to be exposed to the opposition.