King Coles New Zealand’s player of year
It’s standard fare that this final test in Paris will be sold as the defining clash of the All Blacks’ season. One more good performance, one more win and the All Blacks will travel home having sent a message to the rugby world.
But the All Blacks have already defined themselves this year. They have laid down their marker, shown everyone that losing almost 900 test caps at the end of last year wasn’t such a big deal.
What happens against France tomorrow will, though, have potentially significant influence in the minds of senior All Blacks such as Israel Dagg, Aaron Cruden and Ben Smith, who are coming off contract next year. This is the last All Blacks test before all three are likely to make a decision about their respective longer term futures.
The performance and the result at Stade de France won’t be the driving force behind their career planning; it won’t be the single thing that determines their direction.
But as the last game of the year, it will be the one that sits in their memory over the summer months and it will go a long way to helping them assess where this All Blacks team i s at, in terms of its development.
A long way because, in some ways, Once the All Blacks complete their season tomorrow against France in Paris there will be one more contest before they shut down for the southern hemisphere summer.
Players and coaching staff who have made it back to New Zealand rather than jet off elsewhere, will be asked to front for the annual awards evening in Auckland in the middle of next month.
It’s a night where all levels of the game are acknowledged and where perhaps, in the wake of the earthquakes and difficulties for the Kaikoura region, New Zealand Rugby will divert some of the evening proceeds to help those struggling.
Most attention will zero in on the player of the year award, one which should be a great scrap between Ben Smith, Beauden Barrett, Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick and Dane Coles. this test poses a bigger mental challenge than the game against Ireland.
The All Blacks had their motivation handed to them in Dublin by the defeat they suffered to the Irish in Chicago. The emotional tank was full.
This time the challenge is for the players, many of whom were physically drained by their efforts last week, to find that same motivation. Can they bring the same attitude in Paris that they had in Dublin? Can they improve their discipline, ball retention and mix up their attacking game to better effect?
“It has been a big year for this group, losing as many people as we did at the start of it,” says All Blacks coach Steve Hansen. “There was obviously a question mark around what would happen around the World Cup and I think they have stood up extremely well.
“They were asked another A big performance and this All question after Chicago — did they Blacks side will fly home knowing have the strength of character to right they have the chance over the next that wrong and now the next few years to write their own special question, I guess, is can they stand up chapter in history; that they might be and play well again after doing what building towards another epic era. we did in Ireland?” If that is the vibe they create it will,
A big performance from the All inevitably, have some bearing on how Blacks against France would suggest Dagg, Cruden and Smith feel about this young team has the potential to the prospect of staying in New build a legacy every bit as impressive, Zealand through to the next World if not more so, than Cup.the 2012- 2015 team they succeed. Hansen doesn’t want to lose any of
For me, the name inside the envelope should be Dane Coles.
It has been a year when Barrett has been exceptional in his transition from utility to first choice five- eighths and took out World Rugby’s award, Ben Smith played with immaculate skill and timing throughout, Whitelock and Retallick continued to dominate all aspects of their craft as the All Blacks discovered when they were without them in Chicago.
Then there’s Coles, the earthy hooker who has a spicy temperament mixed with impish them. He is backing them all to still be capable of playing a relevant and meaningful role for the All Blacks in 2019.
He doesn’t believe that any of them have done their dash on the test scene and he’s told them as much.
“We don’t want anyone who is a vital ingredient to the team to leave and he [ Dagg] i s a pretty vital ingredient we think,” says Hansen.
“He missed the last World Cup. Is it certain he’s going to go through to the humour and a barrowload of aggressive energy and skill.
His resilience would bring more than a whiff of satisfaction from the former great man in that hooking role, Sean Fitzpatrick.
Coles is often near the epicentre of some drama as he goes about his strenuous and exacting workload at set piece and then manages to scoot about the field with those piston legs and offloads punishing any lax defenders.
He pushed through the pain of damaged ribs to take the Hurricanes to their first Super Rugby crown and even though he was in some discomfort, he then backed up to set the tone against Wales. He sniffed the cordite of competition from burly prospect Nathan Harris who was back from injury in June and also Codie Taylor and laid down the test levels against Wales. next one? Well, if he keeps playing like he is now, he’s been told that he will, because you would be foolish to leave him out given the form he is in.
“What I have said to him is that, if you think your time in the jersey is done, then you probably should go. But I don’t think his story is finished yet, personally. So that is what he has got to work out and it is the same for Crudes [ Aaron Cruden] and with Bender [ Ben Smith].
“All three of them have to work
Coles scored tries few other hookers could where his energy, sidestep and skills would not look out of place in midfield.
Socks down, his pistons churn out a choppy style as he ranges down the flanks or punishes unwary defenders round rucks and mauls.
He plays like the combative Pumas captain Augustin Creevy but is more consistent and usually plays more minutes. He sets the team tone. The Chicago test against Ireland apart, Coles’ lineout throwing has been sharp while there’s never been a hint that he bows to anyone in scrums and so far this season, he’s yet to sit in the international naughty chair.
The eagle- eyed Wayne Barnes may change that clean slate tomorrow in Paris but it won’t alter my view that Coles has been the New Zealand player of the year. out, do I think my story has finished?
“From my point of view all three of them have still got a lot to deliver to this team and at this point I would see all three of them going to the World Cup.”
Smith and Dagg in particular are players that can’t easily be replaced. Damian McKenzie, Rieko Ioane and Nehe Milner- Skudder are the next generation of back three players, but none have the experience or allround skills of Smith and Dagg.
It’s much the same with Cruden. He has almost 40 tests behind him and the calm and certainty he brings off the bench — and the pressure he exerts on Beauden Barrett to keep performing in the No 10 jersey — are critical. Lima Sopoaga is an emerging option, but he’s got a long way to go to be the player Cruden is.
Retaining these three players is a big part of the 2019 World Cup plan and Hansen i s hoping that Dagg, Smith and Cruden all saw how the likes of Dan Carter, Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith before them, faced similar decisions at the same point in their respective careers.
All three could have headed offshore in their late 20s, but none did. They all felt their All Blacks story would only end in their mid- 30s. And they were right to back themselves — all playing in peak form in 2015 and all still able to head offshore after that and earn big money.
“That’s [ the example of Carter et al] an obvious part of the argument and we have talked to them about that,” says Hansen. “Whatever anyone gets offered today, it will be twice as much tomorrow because that is the way it is.
“If you think back to five years ago, overseas contracts have probably quadrupled. If he [ Dagg] is to stay and play as well as he is, then they will still want him after he has finished at the World Cup. It will still come down to what he wants.
“We can’t t wist his arm and we have given him a clear message along with the other two and they will make their decision based on what is right for them. If they stay, it will be great, but if they go, we will have to work on what is next.”