BOLTER’S jump of joy
Lucky Luke’s World Cup dream: ‘I didn’t back myself but I didn’t write myself off’
When Luke Jacobson was named in the All Blacks’ Rugby Championship squad, he was quick to admit he was simply happy to be a part of the team.
His enthusiasm must have paid off on the training pitch, with the Chiefs loose forward being a surprise inclusion in the All Blacks’ 31-man World Cup squad named yesterday.
Jacobson was sitting alone in his Hamilton flat watching the televised squad announcement with hope but no inkling as to whether or not his name would be called out.
As the squad was named in alphabetical order, he began working out where his name might be called. After Rieko Ioane’s name was announced, Jacobson got the thrill of a lifetime.
“I’m on top of the moon,” he said of being selected.
“I didn’t back myself but I didn’t write myself off either . . . I felt I had done the best I thought I could do so I was happy with that. Even if I did miss out it was ‘all right, it wasn’t because I didn’t put out my best effort’. I was real nervous this morning and last night as I thought any little buzz on my phone I was pretty scared of looking at.
“There were a few fist pumps going around. There were a few things said to nobody.”
Jacobson was the eventual beneficiary of Liam Squire ruling himself out of contention for the Rugby Championship and coming to an agreement with All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen that he would be available for the Rugby World Cup
only as an injury replacement option.
With the agreement reached with Squire, Hansen said Jacobson was selected ahead of more experienced players Jackson Hemopo and Vaea Fifita because of what he brought to the pitch.
“If you’re good enough you should be available for selection. He’s a former under-20s captain so he’s got good leadership skills, defensively he’s one of the best hitters in the game, he’s a good ball carrier, and he’s just a smart rugby player.
“It came down to Vaea and Jackson then competing with Luke . . . and we just felt that Luke brought a little bit more than the other two to that position.”
His hard-nosed style of play comes with a drawback as the 22-year-old has been suffering concussion after picking up a head knock while training. However, after a dominant performance in the National Provincial Championship last weekend, Jacobson said he was confident any lingering effects of the most recent knock were well behind him.
“I just had a little bit of a setback but bounced back to normal pretty fast. I’m feeling good as gold now, no worries.
“I’m really excited by the opportunity and to have eight weeks together with the team you’re going to form some pretty close friendships.
“I’m going to be learning heaps in training, I’m locked in for eight weeks so I’ll be in there training with the best . . . well, hopefully eight weeks.
“Any little chance I get, I’ll be going 100 per cent.”
The decision to leave Owen Franks out of the All Blacks World Cup squad — for the time being — was one of the last the selectors made. It was probably also one of the most difficult.
On the face of it, leaving a 31-yearold who has played 108 tests and represented New Zealand with distinction and full commitment out of the squad for Japan appears shocking. But it’s about balance as much as anything and once Nepo Laulala confirmed his place in the squad with an excellent test against the Wallabies at Eden Park, there was effectively no room for Franks, a fellow tighthead.
With Angus Ta’avao also a tighthead specialist, albeit one who could play loosehead at a push but probably not at test level, included, and Ofa Tuungafasi able to play both sides, the selectors needed another loosehead specialist to support Joe Moody, picking Atu Moli.
“He is one of the great All Blacks,” coach Steve Hansen said of Franks after announcing the squad for Japan at Eden Park yesterday. “He’s certainly shown true character. His professionalism on and off the field has been magnificent over the years — he’s played over 100 tests.
“Unfortunately, we as the three selectors, we believe the game requires us to have big, mobile No 1s and No 3s and in this case we just think the other guys that we’ve named are more so [mobile] than he and therefore we had to make a tough decision.”
Hansen spoke about embracing the pressure of the World Cup as the All Blacks attempt to win three in a row. He also said other teams (he refused to specify which) would soon find out about the pressure of expectation that the All Blacks must cope with as a matter of course.
Some of that pressure would have manifested itself in recent selectors’ meetings because while Moli, who has played two tests, both as replacements this year in Buenos Aires and Perth, has size and strength to burn, Hansen and company will probably feel he can be fitter and more mobile yet, an expectation that may not help Franks’ sense of humour much.
The other factor in 24-year-old Moli’s favour, though, was he has been on the national radar for a long while and would have made his test debut last year but for a horrific haematoma injury to his left quadriceps muscle.
“Obviously he’s very disappointed, but I won’t go into details about what we said or anything, but we’re very respectful
of how he coped with it and, again, it’s a mark of the man,” Hansen said of Crusaders stalwart Franks who takes up an overseas contract at the end of the year.
Franks may still make the squad as an injury replacement — and Hansen will be crossing his fingers that his team emerge unscathed from the test against Tonga in Hamilton a week on Saturday.
But in the meantime, he must attempt to process what must be massive disappointment that he won’t be attending a third World Cup.
It’s clear the coaches want the All Blacks to play an up-tempo game on what will probably be hard fields in Japan starting in less than four weeks, and while there are few better at fulfilling Franks’ core roles of scrum and lineout linchpin, the modern game has moved on slightly.
Given Liam Squire wasn’t included in the squad — he will be considered as an injury replacement if required — Franks’ omission represented the biggest surprise of the announcement yesterday.
Midfielder Ngani Laumape can consider himself unlucky to miss out but once Sonny Bill Williams proved in the win over Australia that he still has the ability to play at an extremely high level then there was no room for the Hurricanes player. Ryan Crotty’s experience got him through despite a lack of recent game time and there was no way Jack Goodhue or Anton Lienert-Brown were being left at home.
The only other selection that may have raised eyebrows was that of loose forward Luke Jacobson, a 22-year-old who has played one test — as a replacement against the Pumas in Argentina this year.
Jacobson is a beneficiary of Squire’s decision to make himself unavailable for the Rugby Championship this year but as a similar, direct, approach to the game.
“He’s a former under-20s captain so he has good leadership skills,” Hansen said. “Defensively he’s one of the hardest hitters in the game, he’s a good ball carrier and he’s just a smart rugby player so we think he’s got a big future.” Hansen said firstfive Richie Mo’unga is a doubtful starter for the test against Tonga due to a sore shoulder, although he did add if the test was a World Cup final the No 10 would probably play which suggests it’s not too serious.