Who’s in your World Cup squad?
Settled on your Rugby World Cup squad? You assume Steve Hansen and his fellow All Blacks selectors are pretty settled on theirs, partly thanks to Sunday’s 66-3 win over Italy.
The game was something of a sliding doors moment for wings Jordie Barrett and Waisake Naholo. The fact the various photo agencies Stuff uses had no action shots of Naholo says a bit about his anonymous performance, in a match when Barrett’s workrate and accuracy were good.
Never mind the four tries he scored; they’re a bonus. Italy was about Barrett showing he could relied upon as a safe, industrious wing option. With fullback and goalkicking in his arsenal too, Barrett probably sewed up a spot in New Zealand’s 31-man squad for next year.
Another who might have done similar was blindside flanker Vaea Fifita. Everyone knows he can carry, but it was hurting people on defence and having a presence at the breakdown that were his tasks. Italy are hardly England, Ireland or South Africa, but Fifita showed a willingness to do as he’s asked, rather than hang about on the wing waiting for someone to give him the ball.
The other string he has to his bow is an ability to play lock. Brodie Retallick, Sam Whitelock and Scott Barrett are World Cup certainties, with the fourth lock to potentially be a player who can operate at No 6 as well.
The loose forwards and midfield mixes don’t appear cut and dried just yet.
Kieran Read will be there, obviously. Then Ardie Savea, Liam Squire and a few questions marks. Everyone assumes Sam Cane will be over his serious neck injury, but that can’t be a given. Matt Todd’s never let New Zealand down, while Dalton Papalii is someone the selectors fancy.
Where does Shannon Frizell fit? Jordan Taufua? Jackson Hemopo? Akira Ioane? All have their strengths and a degree of versatility. As do Gareth Evans and Luke Whitelock. Can lock Patrick Tuipulotu do a job for you at blindside flanker as well? It’s an interesting one.
The midfield isn’t dissimilar. If fit, it appears that Jack Goodhue, Anton Lienert-Brown, Ryan Crotty and Sonny Bill Williams make up the preferred quartet. But, at least in Williams’ case, the fit bit is no given.
And what of Ngani Laumape? Hansen and co often talk about the second five-eighth’s work-ons and, from this distance, it looks like he’s been working on them. Laumape’s developed a handy short-kicking game and showed vision and skill to pick out Richie Mo’unga with a long ball in Rome.
A bit like Fifita, Laumape’s always going to provide a significant running threat and it’s just a matter of whether he offers enough other things to change the current pecking order.
Fullback Damian McKenzie remains just about the most interesting All Black of all. His lack of size and bulk will always be problematic and he’s prone to errors too.
It’s just that many of the mistakes come while trying to create things that might win you a tight game. Against England two weeks ago, McKenzie made any number of errors, but was also just about New Zealand’s only attacking threat.
Ben Smith and Jordie Barrett are the other fullback options, if more likely to play on the right wing. Beauden Barrett’s another who could play a bit at 15, with Rieko Ioane locked into the 11 jumper.
Up front, hooker Dane Coles is back. It was nice to see him run the ball in Rome, but the fact he got in some push and shove shows he’s feeling confident again. In concert with Codie Taylor, the All Blacks have a great one-two punch there.
There’s depth at prop, too, which should mean New Zealand’s scrum is among the more formidable in Japan next year.