Sonny Brittle Williams?
Steve Hansen has dismissed the suggestion Sonny Bill Williams is brittle. Williams, the star All Blacks second five-eighth, is nursing an Acjoint injury, to go with the knee problem and fractured wrist he’s already suffered this season. Thirty-three in August, the former rugby league player and boxer, has put his body through a lot during a distinguished career in elite sport. In recent times there was the lengthy recovery from an Achilles tendon rupture at the 2016 Olympic Games, then concussion symptoms and knee issues last season and you wonder if the years at the top are now taking a toll. Williams remains a first-choice player when fit, but those occasions appear to be few and far between, particularly in Super Rugby. At All Blacks level, though, coach Hansen has absolutely no concerns. ‘‘I think he’s durable enough. He’s just not having any luck at the moment; he’s a bit like [Daniel] Carter,’’ Hansen said. ‘‘They’re not muscle injuries, they’re impact injuries so that’ll turn. He’s fine, we’re very happy with where he’s at.’’ Besides, Hansen says Williams’ value to the All Blacks extends well beyond the playing field. ‘‘They all look up to him as a professional. Like he’s very, very professional with how he conducts himself with his training and his rehab and he’s prepared, so that’s a big plus. And then he’s vulnerable. ‘‘He’s open to let you know the things that he doesn’t know and that’s important for the young guys too, because there’s a lot of stuff they don’t know and hearing a senior player like Sonny put his hand up and say ‘hey, I’m not sure how you want me to do that’ or ‘I’m not sure what that bit means’ is really important because it gives the young guys a licence to do that. ‘‘And, of course, on the park he attracts a lot of attention from defences. You can’t mark everybody. If you’re trying to doublemark or triple-mark him, then there’s space for other people and I think we saw that with Jack [Goodhue] the other night.’’ Goodhue is the latest player to come into an increasingly congested area. Williams and Ryan Crotty are the No 1 midfield combination, while Anton Lienert-brown has been a fixture in the squad since his debut in 2016. Ngani Laumape was the next to join the group, before Goodhue made his test debut against France in Dunedin last Saturday. There’s been a suggestion Laumape might not be retained for the Rugby Championship, although you won’t hear Hansen say that. ‘‘I don’t think he has to do too much [to hold his place]. He was involved in two of the three tests [against France], it’s just a matter of juggling five [players] into two slots,’’ Hansen said. Laumape, like all the team’s midfield backs, is working hard to meet the coach’s wish-list ‘‘Someone that can obviously carry, someone that can offload, someone that has a passing game, someone that has a kicking game. Now all of those things are important, but probably the biggest quality is the ability to communicate and talk about what’s in front of you so we can get those messages to the 10s and we can make better decisions,’’ Hansen said. Goodhue does a bit of that, by the sounds. ‘‘He’s a very good runner with the ball. Like he squares the backline up really nicely,’’ Hansen said. ‘‘He assesses what needs to be done pretty quickly and he’s a very, very good distributor and his defence isn’t too bad either. He’s an up and comer and he just joins a quartet of midfielders that we’ve got who are very good and you can throw Vince Aso and [Matt] Proctor into that as well.’’ But they won’t all make the Rugby Championship squad.
‘‘He’s very, very professional with how he conducts himself with his training and his rehab and he’s prepared, so that’s a big plus. And then he’s vulnerable.’’ Steve Hansen on Sonny Bill Williams