Plenty of easy pickings for Robertson
Little sense of angst or confusion about likely All Blacks selections
Super Rugby is approaching the halfway point and All Blacks coach Scott Robertson will be feeling like a significant number of players have made life easy for him and his fellow selectors. There has been an element of stress packed into the post-World Cup narrative due to retirements and overseas departures, and Robertson’s cryptic answers to questions about the eligibility policy alluding to the possibility he thinks it’s needlessly hurting New Zealand.
Certainly, since the All Blacks last played — in the World Cup final — there has developed an underlying sense that Robertson is having to rebuild a team from impaired
resources playing in a substandard competition.
But the evidence each week in Super Rugby, combined with the historic knowledge of what a handful of senior players in Japan can deliver on the international stage, has produced a different tale.
And that story says it should be fairly straightforward for the All Blacks to pick a squad that carries an element of continuity, a depth of experience, reward for a handful of in-form players and probably a quirk or two befitting Robertson’s eye for the unconventional.
The easy selections are in the areas that possibly look the most congested — the loose trio, wings and prop.
The form of Hoskins Sotutu is impossible to ignore, particularly when he was omitted from all representative levels last year and given clear instruction by All Blacks forwards coach Jason Ryan on where he needed to improve.
When a player with Sotutu’s potential responds as magnificently as he has to adversity, bounces back with renewed vigour, obvious passion for the game, the selectors know they would lose credibility if they don’t return him to the All Blacks.
There is no quicker way for coaches to lose players’ trust than to ignore the guy playing the house down after he was dropped. It may seem Sotutu and the equally in-form Brayden Iose are in a battle for the No 8 slot, but the former has almost certainly already won that fight.
Elsewhere, Simipeni Finau has played with the sort of aggression others can’t match, and while he has been a little wild and overzealous at times, no coach has ever overlooked a prospective blindside for bringing too much physicality.
Dalton Papali’i has bulked up this year, and although he struggled at first to carry the weight in terms of his ability to get around the field, he’s worked that out and has shown he can be a hybrid openside-blindside.
Ardie Savea has been in Japan but he’s the reigning best player in the world and hardly needs to sell his credentials.
Various theories are floating around about what Robertson will do with Sam Cane but the answer seems simple — pick him, but not as captain.
However it may look, there is an unwritten agreement with these sabbatical deals senior players are granted that they won’t be punished for taking them. Being a no-show in Super Rugby this year won’t see Cane dropped, and as long as he’s fit, it seems inevitable he’ll be picked because politically, it would look bad to shun the man who was previous coach Ian Foster’s captain.
That would seem too pointed and callous — a power play designed to make a statement that didn’t need to be made about a player who has shown he’s a world-class flanker and the sort of leader a new coaching team would be mad to leave out of their inaugural season in charge for the sake of one-upmanship.
The smarter play would be to put the onus on Cane to keep proving his value, while giving Hurricanes protege Peter Lakai a little taste of life inside the All Blacks camp this year.
Robertson can subtly increase the pressure on Cane to perform by dripfeeding Lakai opportunities, and performance, not politics, will determine the outcome of who survives in the squad longer-term.
The other congested area is the back three — but again the form of Caleb Clarke and Mark Tele’a at the Blues has made them must-picks, while Emoni Narawa is starting to find his best form, too, after a long injury lay-off.
The only unknown is what to do about Sevu Reece, who has been magnificent for the Crusaders, but also linked to a move to Montpellier.
On form, Reece would walk into the team, but if he’s off to France, Robertson’s got no incentive to pick him when he has such good alternative options who are committed for longer, and Will Jordan to return once he recovers from shoulder surgery.
There are plenty of other easy decisions to make — Damian McKenzie is head-and-shoulders the best first-five, with Brett Cameron proving worthy of further test exploration.
Tyrel Lomax is now looking like he’s the best tighthead prop in the world, with Hurricanes teammate Xavier Numia playing exactly as an international loosehead should.
It’s all quite easy — these two, plus proven candidates Fletcher Newell, Ethan de Groot and Tamaiti Williams would give the All Blacks five all-court props with scrummaging chops.
There may end up being a few tight calls around the margins — is there room for Iose or does he miss out to the steadily destructive Luke Jacobson?
And at halfback, Fin Christie, TJ Perenara and Folau Fakatava look like they will probably be the chosen three, but Cortez Ratima has so much energy about his game that it would be intriguing to give him a test to see how he handles the occasion.
There’s plenty of time for the story to twist and turn a little, but it would be a surprise if Robertson and his fellow selectors are watching Super Rugby play out with a sense of angst or confusion about who they are likely to pick.