Sam Whitelock
Campbell Burnes watched Sam Whitelock closely last month, and was mightily impressed with the All Blacks captain’s leadership as much as his play.
The All Blacks captain showed his calmness and composure at key moments last month.
‘Whitelock is into his 12th season as an All Black and wants to make that 14, having signed through until Rugby World Cup 2023.’
Ian Jones recalls well the first time he met Sam Whitelock. It was in 2007 at the trials for the new Zealand under 19s – the last nz 19s side, as it turned out – who would go on to win the world champs that year.
“He was composed back then, a cool head on him, and he came from rugby stock so had a good understanding of the game,” says Jones, who was a great All Blacks lock in his own right.
That rugby stock is now considered new Zealand rugby royalty: braeden Whitelock and his boys, four of whom became pros, three of them All Blacks.
Sam was an All Black at 21, with two tries on debut – he has never equalled that brace – and by the end of that season brad Thorn, who had seen everything in two codes, declared, exclusively to Rugby News, that Whitelock would be a 10-year All Black. He was wrong. Whitelock is into his 12th season as an All Black and wants to make that 14, having signed through until Rugby World Cup 2023.
Now an eight-time All Blacks captain (as of August 6), Whitelock just looks like the ultimate pro – having learned so well from the likes of Thorn and Richie Mccaw. He may be the caretaker skipper until Sam Cane returns for the end of year northern tour, but there was no surprise throughout the land when coach Ian Foster went back to his old warhorse after Cane was scratched for six months.
Whitelock’s output last month saw him start the Tonga and second Fiji Test, but arguably his most impressive display was off the pine against Fiji in Dunedin. The All Blacks were leading at 56 minutes when he entered the fray, but they were being beaten up at the collisions. Whitelock spoke succinctly to his men, they tightened up, Dane Coles gorged himself off lineout-driven tries and they won in a canter.
Whitelock is no tub-thumper. He leads by example but has a calm manner and is not a big talker to referees. He is also a thinker, and this was evident at lineout time in the Hamilton Test.
“The cameras focused in on him and he’d be changing the call, maybe using Akira Ioane at the front, easy, clean ball. That’s being aware of making the right call with a cool head. That was really key. I liked his leadership there,” says Jones.
“He doesn’t get into negative talking with the ref. It’s just clear talk. He gives short, succinct, clear direction to his team, no verbal sprays. You don’t see him flapping his arms about under the posts. You just see him saying ‘This is what we need to do.’ I like that a lot.”
That said, and even though there is no captain’s challenge in Test rugby (yet), Whitelock did persuade Australian referee Damon Murphy in Hamilton to check a play with the TMO. Not many can twist a ref’s arm in that subtle fashion.
Again in Hamilton, he did the right thing by pointing to the uprights after a penalty when the All Blacks led just 7-6 after 29 minutes. It was a simple decision but how often do you see captains, even in Test rugby, and regularly in Super rugby, turning down the chance for scoreboard pressure?
“He’s an attacking player. We’ve seen that at the Crusaders where he can go for
the jugular and go for the lineout, but he swiftly summed up the situation and they restarted again,” says Jones.
He is adamant that Whitelock makes the players around him better in the pack, and certainly at lock. They all know they can focus on their core tasks as the bloke who wraps his arms around them in the scrum will just do his job with a minimum of fuss.
Whitelock is a good ball-winner – not necessarily an explosive athlete off the ground, but he doesn’t have to be. Whoever is alongside him, be it Brodie Retallick, Scott Barrett, Patrick Tuipulotu or Tupou Vaa’i, can offer different qualities. He’ll just be humble and hardworking, calling the lineouts, delivering a sharp message in five words not 20, and lasting 80 minutes without an issue.
“He has a real understanding of his role, he’s consistent in that,” says Jones.
“Like all partnerships, he allows Brodie and Scotty to become better players. He plays tighter when Brodie is there. But he’s a professional and sets the bar very high. He learned off the best in Brad and richie. These young guys now have an amazing role model in Sam Whitelock to learn off and live his values.”
There was a time, in 2018, the year after he was named the best player in the country, when Whitelock looked like he was running on empty. He was trying but there was no fizz to his All Blacks rugby. The grind can wear the best down, so it was the right timing when he took a sabbatical in Japan at the start of 2020. By the time he was back in harness for the inaugural Super Rugby Aotearoa, he looked a new man. His old mate Kieran Read noticed it too. “At his age, that little bit of time off can give your body that chance to refresh and increase your longevity in the game,” he told Rugby News last month.
Whitelock reminds one of Alun Wyn Jones, the talismanic Wales captain, whose standards never seem to drop and who is integral to what wales do. but then Jones would never have scored that extraordinary try that Whitelock pulled out for the Crusaders against the reds a few years back.
So, as you settle in to soak up the Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship over the next two months, watch the interim All Blacks captain. See how he leads, how he carries himself and what he does in the pressure moments. It won’t surprise you but it will confirm in your mind, if there is any doubt, that this bloke is fit to rank in the top 3-4 great All Blacks locks of all time.