ABs’ absence a super balancing act for coaches
The All Blacks have been declared off-limits for any preseason Super Rugby action and New Zealand’s franchises appear to be – wait for it – happy with the directive from on high.
What a difference a year makes. After a divisive 2018 that featured some unseemly infighting between national and franchise coaches, the Super Rugby whip-crackers appear to be on board with the All Blacks’ World Cup masterplan.
That was certainly the indication in the wake of the Blues’ hit out against the Chiefs in Waiuku on Friday when coaches from both teams gave every indication they were singing off the same hymn sheet as Steven Hansen in 2019.
Both confirmed the directive that their All Blacks won’t be part of any pre-season game activity, though most are available to enter the competition from the opening round.
As Blues assistant Tom Coventry and his Chiefs counterpart, Tabai Matson, confirmed, this creates a conundrum with franchises charged with making big calls on leading All Blacks for week one without them having logged a minute of matchplay.
But they also made it clear they understood the reason for the directive and were on board with the bigger picture, which was all about giving the All Blacks the best possible chance to lift the Webb Ellis Cup in Japan.
Someone in a high place has clearly had a word with the coaching staff of the five Kiwi franchises.
Coventry said it would be a ‘‘challenge’’ for teams to get All Blacks ready to enter the fray from week one, and would require some creativity.
‘‘If the rest of the squad is seven weeks ahead, they’ve got to try catch up that time and there’s only one way to be hardened for rugby,’’ said Coventry. ‘‘They’ll do it. They’ve come back off fitness regimes, they’ve just had a camp last week, and they’re all pretty motivated to give us a hand.’’
Blues All Blacks Rieko Ioane, Sonny Bill Williams, Patrick Tuipulotu, Dalton Papalii, Ofa Tu’ungafasi and Karl
Tu’inukuafe are all back training, and will be eased through the next three weeks ahead of the season opener against the Crusaders on February 16.
‘‘Some All Blacks will have different minutes and a graduated process back into fulltime, so they don’t play 80 minutes from day one,’’ Coventry said. ‘‘It’s a steep curve to play 80 after no pre-season, and injury risk is high. We need a plan on how we graduate them back in.’’
But Coventry said despite the difficulty quotient he had no qualms with the national directive.
‘‘New Zealand rugby is all around making the All Blacks strong, and Super Rugby is about developing players to be good for the All Blacks for the World Cup. We want them to be good for us as well, so there is a balancing act.
‘‘We work closely with the coaching panel and trainers from the All Blacks who are in our ear all the time and making sure the boys are working in the right direction.
‘‘They want them fit in September and we want them hissing in March. That’s our dilemma.’’
Matson offered similar sentiments from the Chiefs’ perspective.
Most of their All Blacks return to training this week, with the exception of Sam Cane, who remains a longer-term project coming off that serious back injury last year.
‘‘Initially you might think it’s really annoying but we want all our players playing well at the end of the season when it matters, and we want our players winning the World Cup for New Zealand,’’ said Matson. ‘‘We all understand it’s a key part of New Zealand rugby and you find solutions.
‘‘It’s going to be fascinating seeing each franchise’s strategy. Some will throw them straight in and know they can go from zero to 100 in game one, and others will wean them in. It will probably be case by case.
‘‘We all want to win in Japan [at the World Cup], and the Chiefs want to win on July 6. We’re happy to find a common ground.’’