The unknown All Blacks
Senior players have yet to meet several of their new uncapped teammates named in a mammoth squad
In picking 51 players for a giant squad which will be together, albeit briefly, in Japan, the All Blacks selectors have gone deep into the nation’s professional playing roster — so much so, skipper Kieran Read hasn’t met them all yet.
Uncapped Auckland loose forward Dalton Papalii is the main beneficiary because he has been named in the main squad of 32 which will travel to Yokohama to play Australia in the dead-rubber Bledisloe Cup test a week on Saturday.
But following closely behind is another openside flanker, Matt Todd, a man who presumably thought his All Black dream was over for the year once he signed for Japanese club Panasonic.
But in what coach Steve Hansen sees as a needs-must scenario in the wake of Sam Cane’s neck injury, Hansen has successfully argued that Todd should receive a dispensation and be available to play England at Twickenham and Ireland in Dublin. New Zealand Rugby’s board (and Panasonic coach Robbie Deans) agreed.
“There’s been no change of heart,” Hansen said yesterday regarding the selection of Todd despite him not playing in New Zealand. “He’s committed to New Zealand rugby. When we lost Sam Cane — he’s the obvious guy to replace Sam. He’s very much in the mix for next year’s World Cup.”
Todd won’t be available to play the Wallabies, Japan in Tokyo, or Italy in Rome, the latter the final All Blacks test of the year. That leaves the door open for Papalii, a standout for the Blues this year when fit, to make his test debut.
A separate squad of 19 other players, including seven uncapped players, will join the main group in Yokohama ahead of the test against Japan in Tokyo. Several, but not all, will also be in line to win their first caps, including previously unheralded Taranaki prop Reuben O’Neill.
A group of 22 front-liners will leave Yokohama for London on November 1 (the Thursday before the Japan test) to prepare for the test against England, leaving 29 to fight it out for places in the match-day 23 against Japan. The squad of 51 will be together for only four days.
Hansen sees Papalii as someone capable of playing at openside or blindside. The 21-year-old’s good form for the Blues this year has continued with Auckland, who finished the regular season as the Premiership’s top qualifiers.
Papalii is a powerful player with the requisite workrate, ball skills and defensive ability, but offers a point of difference to Cane and Todd because he is significantly taller and slightly heavier than both.
The presence in the squad of 30-year-old Todd, who has played 14 tests, will probably raise eyebrows for its apparent elasticity of the All Blacks selection criteria, but for skipper Read, who admitted to not having met many of the newer faces in the squad, it was quite straightforward.
“Toddy’s a crucial part of this team. He had an opportunity to go to Japan and he’s done that but he’s fully committed to New Zealand next year,” Read said. “He’s fully in the mix for next year’s World Cup. He’s someone who has put in performances at the highest level and is a great one to have for this tour.”
Of the players to miss out, few were unluckier than loose forwards Shannon Frizell, who has a shoulder injury, and uncapped Jordan Taufua, who has an arm problem.
Midfielder Jack Goodhue has glandular fever and won’t be available for the Wallabies test. Ngani Laumape will cover for him.
Wellington hooker Dane Coles and Canterbury prop Joe Moody, who are both returning from injury, will be available to play in the Mitre 10 Cup semifinals this week before travelling to Japan.
The All Blacks have picked a touring squad that is partly looking to address some of the shortcomings that have been witnessed in recent weeks while also trying to anticipate the nature of the rugby they will face in Japan and Europe.
Typically when an All Blacks squad has been unveiled in recent years, it is the strike power of the outside backs and array of attacking weaponry that grabs attention.
But not this time. The 32-man squad the All Blacks are taking to Europe is notable for the supreme setpiece capability and depth of its tight five and the volume of natural ball carriers in the forwards.
Upcoming opponents will no doubt scan this squad and be wary of the physicality and athleticism of the All Blacks pack.
They will see the All Blacks have the ability to cause considerable damage with their scrum, lineout, driving maul and bruising ball-carrying.
And the selectors have deliberately struck this balance. They have made a conscious choice to take four locks and six loose forwards, which has forced them to travel with only four outside backs.
That sacrifice has been made because if there has been a theme that has clung to the All Blacks all season, it is that they have spent prolonged periods of too many games trying to play fast and wide without having earned the right, or created the space to do so.
When they have reverted to a more direct, confrontational approach and used the forwards to punch holes from the set-piece and around the breakdown area, they have instantly troubled their opponents.
In both tests against Australia, the first 40 minutes were tight until the All Blacks came out after halftime with a thunderous desire to use their forwards to smash over the gainline with the occasional offload or slip pass to build momentum.
It was obvious in the most recent test in Pretoria that the All Blacks were lacking forwards who were able to stress the defence with their ballcarrying.
Having Retallick and Squire back goes a long way to fixing that problem, as does the return of Joe Moody, Nepo Laulala and Dane Coles.
All of them are natural ball-carriers and good ball users, and as much as the All Blacks are eager to play at an anaerobic-inducing pace from the start of each test, the message is presumably getting through that they may need to be more patient and less predictable in their quest to break teams.
It’s a case of understanding how to use the collision skills of the forwards to sap an opponent and then integrate a wider running game around it.
What the make-up of the squad suggests is that the All Blacks are heading north with a greater willingness to vary their approach and give their forwards more responsibility for launching the attacking game.
This variation has been mostly absent this year and it has left the All Blacks vulnerable to the sort of rush defence that the Springboks employed in both Wellington and Pretoria.
Inevitably they will be confronted with rush defences in the games against Australia, England and Ireland, and the All Blacks need to have answers as to how they can play their way through or around it, but certainly not have their game collapse as a result of line speed.
The NZR board dispensation to pick Matt Todd for the European leg is a confirmation that the All Blacks were uncomfortable taking on England and Ireland with Ardie Savea as their only proven No 7.
Ireland especially are superb at the breakdown and compete hard for turnover ball, and tactically, the All Blacks will most likely want two specialist opensides in their match day 23 in Dublin.
Dalton Papalii is a good prospect but it would be a risk to ask the 21-year-old to front in a game of that magnitude.
Having Moody and Laulala available also means the All Blacks have five props who can claim to be world class at scrummaging, and without doubt, this will be a specific area of focus in the tests against England and Ireland, and probably Australia, too.
All three of those sides have the ability to scrum for penalties and either kick for goal or territory to launch an effective driving maul.
The depth of quality the All Blacks have at prop and lock should give them confidence that they can not only nullify the threat of the English, Irish and Australians, but use their scum as a launch pad for their own attacking ploys.
Again, the All Blacks haven’t been good this year at attacking off setpiece possession.
They have been brilliant at scoring from turnovers but haven’t found their flow or rhythm with their structured attack.