Weber out Whitelock unfazed to reclaim by setbacks ABs spot
Veteran All Blacks lock Sam Whitelock would be literally rubbing his hands together in glee if his injured digits didn’t make that just a little problematic.
The 33-year-old, 132-test forward was typically stoic about the worrying news yesterday that the All Blacks had lost, not just head coach Ian Foster and assistants John Plumtree and Scott McLeod to positive tests for Covid-19, but midfielders David Havili and Jack Goodhue as well.
All five will be forced to isolate at home while the All Blacks prepare for the July series opener against Ireland at a sold-out Eden Park on Saturday night without them.
Whitelock said he is confident a thumb fracture that struck him at the end of the Crusaders’ charge to another Super Rugby title won’t prevent him lining up for the All Blacks clash against the in-form Irish.
He’s also equally upbeat about the prospect of the New Zealanders taking the key absences in their stride, and not just surviving, but thriving, as senior players took up the preparation slack.
‘‘If anything for a player it’s quite nice for it to happen early,’’ said Whitelock in Auckland yesterday. ‘‘It makes us take the lead which we normally want to do anyway. If anything it means we’ve got to do it a day earlier than we normally would.
‘‘The leadership have been together for a couple of campaigns now and we know each other pretty well. So it’s not doing too much differently … it’s maybe everyone taking a step up in the right areas. We all lead in different ways, so we’ve got to carry on doing that but make sure we’re right across the whole board because we don’t have our normal coaches there.
‘‘It’s a really cool challenge and something I’m actually looking forward to. It’s different, but how awesome we get to have a week in here that’s so different.’’
An ‘‘older and more mature’’ Brad Weber is this time not ‘‘kicking stones’’ after his All Blacks nonselection, but still has a burning in the belly to regain his black jersey.
Overlooked for Ian Foster’s first squad of the year, for the three-test series against Ireland, the zippy Chiefs halfback admits he’s not exactly in foreign territory in being out of the national frame, and will once again do all he can to make it back to the top.
In the same boat as good mate TJ Perenara, the pair were yesterday announced as co-captains of the Mā ori All Blacks side, ahead of its two matches against the Irish, starting tomorrow night in Hamilton.
‘‘I know what I need to do, I’ve fought back before, so I’ll just do it again,’’ said the 31-year-old, who has 17 tests to his name, 10 of those coming last year, following a debut way back in 2015.
‘‘You know my story, this is not the first time that I haven’t been selected for the All Blacks. So that’s good for me in that I’ve been here before, I know what it takes.’’
Weber said he hadn’t had been given specific areas to work on from Foster, who plumped for Aaron Smith, Finlay Christie and Folau Fakatava in his 36-man squad, but is determined to further himself as much as possible to give himself every chance of another crack.
‘‘We’re a bit older and more mature now, maybe five or six years ago I might have kicked stones a little bit, but these days I’m a bit more philosophical about that sort of stuff.’’
And having the ‘‘silver lining’’ of selection in the Mā ori All Blacks has softened the blow. Weber labelled it ‘‘a pretty huge moment’’
for both him and Perenara when coach Clayton McMillan asked them to lead the side, with Weber given the nod to start at FMG Stadium Waikato and Perenara to take the reins when entering off the bench.
Weber will lead a team of 10 debutants tomorrow night in what will be the Mā ori side’s first clash against Ireland since a 31-28 win in Rotorua in 2010.
‘‘There were some tough selections, probably at blindside flanker [where Blues 2022 debutant Cameron Suafoa has got the nod], and that back-three mix [where star Hurricanes rookie [Josh] Moorby was a surprise omission] was probably where we had the most discussion,’’ McMillan noted.
‘‘We anticipate that it’s going to be a bit wet, and so some of our selections have taken that in mind.’’