Kiwis bank on experience
Kiwis assistant coach Nathan Cayless says there’s one key difference in the squad to take on the Kangaroos on Saturday to the one that lost to England in Denver. Experience.
It’s a common trait with the Kiwis that when they are at their strongest they can match it with anyone, but once too many players make themselves unavailable, as was the case in Denver in June and at last year’s World Cup, they are average.
Thankfully for the Kiwis, right now they’re fairly close to being at their strongest.
Of course, players such as Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Issac Luke and Tohu Harris would have made a difference.
But coming into this squad are Shaun Johnson, Jesse Bromwich, Kevin Proctor and Adam Blair and in terms of the last three, it gives the Kiwis a far stronger forward pack.
‘‘The big difference is the amount of experience that has come back into the squad,’’ Cayless said yesterday after the team had just finished a training session.
‘‘That’s going to be huge for the boys on Saturday night against a very good Australian team.
‘‘Having that experience back in the side and just guiding the players around the park, it’s going to be amazing for these young boys.
‘‘It’s great to have a bit of experience back,’’ he added.
‘‘Jesse and Kevin Proctor are back, Jared [Waerea-Hargreaves] has been outstanding this year.
‘‘So those guys need to lead the team and I’m sure they’ll do that well.’’
While the Kangaroos are missing players, New Zealand will never have the same amount of depth as they have on the other side of the Tasman.
In recent times, it’s been oneway traffic when the two nations have clashed and of course, results against the likes of England, Tonga, Fiji and even Scotland haven’t been good in recent years either.
But most of that happened in a previous era for the Kiwis and under their new coach, Michael Maguire, the team is looking to regain a winning mentality.
‘‘A lot of these boys have tasted victory,’’ Cayless said.
‘‘Adam Blair was there in 2008 [winning the World Cup] and a lot of them have been there when they’ve won Four Nations and Anzac tests.
‘‘So they know what it’s about, making sure we’re doing all of the little things, winning the little moments in the game, the kick pressure, kick chase, filling the space in the defensive line, to make sure we can keep building pressure on the Australian team, all of those little things.
Cayless’ time with the Kiwis as an assistant coach will come to an end after Saturday’s test.
As first revealed by ,he will be the coach of the Warriors’ reserve grade ISP team next season, so won’t be heading north with the Kiwis for the three tests against England.
‘‘It’s something to do with my employment moving forward,’’ he said.
‘‘But I’m putting everything into this week and making sure I do whatever I can making sure the team does well.
‘‘There have been a lot of the old guys around this week, Ruben [Wiki], Motu [Tony], Nigel Vagana involved in the camp.
‘‘That’s something Madge [Maguire] was keen to do, to make sure there were a lot of past players involved with the campaign, to keep building that nice strong culture.
‘‘It’s been a really good week,’’ he added. ‘‘The boys have come into camp well and we had a good session today.
‘‘It’s building nicely and the combinations in the team are going well.
‘‘It’s a big match at the weekend, so we need to make sure all of the little things are done well, we complete our sets and build pressure on the opposition.
‘‘We know how good the Australians are with the ball and how they can build pressure, so it’s something we’ve been working really hard on and want to do well with at the weekend.’’