BLOWN AWAY!
All Blacks plot to get Retallick up to speed
The All Blacks’ last Rugby World Cup pool game, against Italy tomorrow, has been been called off due to the looming Typhoon Hagibis bearing down on Japan, meaning we advance to the quarter-finals. Other games are under threat, sending the tournament into disarray.
The logistical nightmare for fans and ABs. A NZ final win would be ‘forever tainted’. Warning to World Rugby over cancellations. What it means for a returning Brodie Retallick.
The question over our next opponents.
The big World Cup danger for the All Blacks as they get to grips with the cancelled Italy game is how they get Brodie Retallick back up to speed following his return from a dislocated shoulder because his next match will be a quarter-final.
It is a trap they fell into at the end of last year after the man generally agreed to be the best lock in the world couldn’t back up his superb performance against England at Twickenham the next week against Ireland in Dublin.
His full range of abilities were on display in a very tight test in south west London after he made a return off the bench against Japan in Tokyo in his previous match but it turned out he was under-done conditioning wise and he couldn’t find the same levels at Aviva Stadium as the All Blacks lost to the Irish for the second time in two years.
Retallick would have been pencilled in for 60 minutes or so against Italy in Toyota Stadium tomorrow and now the All Blacks have to find another way to replicate that intensity, but, in an interview with the Herald, coach Steve Hansen said it was under control.
The England v France game in Fukuoka is the other game to be scrapped as the authorities prepare for the arrival of Typhoon Hagibis, with the Japan v Scotland game in Yokohama on Sunday at risk but going ahead at the moment. A cancellation of the highly-anticipated game between the hosts and Scots would be hugely significant as it would result in Scotland missing out on a chance to qualify for a quarterfinal; Hansen described it as a disaster. “It’s not really an issue because you just modify his training to compensate for that,” Hansen said of Retallick.
He wouldn’t elaborate on what the modifications would look like but they are likely to involve a physical battering for the 28-year-old who has played 78 tests. Hansen ruled out bringing in another team for an opposed training session, saying he would use all 31 players to presumably provide something similar.
“I’m not going to say what we’ll do,” he said. “But we modified training today and then we’ll modify it tomorrow because tomorrow was down to be a captain’s run. You certainly don’t do too much at a captain’s run and so we’ll have to do more. Saturday obviously we won’t be able to train and then Sunday we’ll look at what we can do.
“During this period we just have to adapt and adjust and be as positive and smart as we can be.”
Midfielder Jack Goodhue is the other All Black in need of game time following his return from a hamstring problem. Goodhue played the first half against Canada and 60 minutes against Namibia. He would have got through 80 against Italy but given his relative youth — he’s 24 — and place in the backline rather than pack, a huge amount of contact work probably wasn’t such a priority for him.
For Hansen, the key is to quickly adapt and retain the positive attitude that has taken the All Blacks to their last two World Cup triumphs. He said all contingencies had been planned for, including a cancelled game.
“It’s not that big an issue for us because we’ve qualified,” he said.
“It’s a potential disaster for Scotland because if they miss out on playing then it’s a big one. But life’s not fair and so why would sport be fair? Sometimes it tests your resolve and you just have to take it on the chin and accept it even though you don’t like it.”
During this period we just have to adapt and adjust and be as positive and smart as we can be.
Steve Hansen