The All Blacks’ areas of concern on northern tour
The loss of Retallick and Whitelock at the same time could put some pressure on the tight five.
‘‘It’d be very easy,’’ Steve Hansen said to me at the start of last year before the World Cup, ‘‘to say everything’s good and we’re going great, but the reality is it’s not. There are some inconvenient facts there, that you can get better in this area, you can get better in that area. If you’re brave enough to say that out loud, then as a team you will get better.’’
Let’s say out loud, as the All Blacks get ready for this year’s annual trip north, the areas that might be a concern, one that might have been, but now is not, and something to be happy about. In Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock we have the best locking combination in the world. Not only huge and physical, but fast and stunningly skilled. Why worry?
Because if, as happened last weekend, Retallick is concussed and Whitelock injures an ankle, the middle-row bench doesn’t look remotely as all conquering.
The game in the northern hemisphere, so often played on boggy surfaces that favour strength and grunt over skill and pace, produces a swag of massive knuckle-draggers who will ruthlessly exploit a lack of command in the middle row.
Luke Romano is tough as nails, but doesn’t have the extraordinary physical presence of the superstars, nor the lowered body position when running with the ball that makes both Retallick and Whitelock so hard to tackle.
That technical issue will no doubt be a work on for Hansen and scrum coach Mike Cron on tour.
The trip might be a godsend for Patrick Tuipulotu, who as recently as last April was describing his Super Rugby form, after coming back from hip and hand surgery, as ‘‘quite poor’’. Tuipolotu is only 23, very young in international locking terms, and his goal must be to make his explosive bursts with the ball his norm, not an occasional feature. It’s a perfect example of the northern rugby mindset that some of the most sought-after players by their clubs are not twinkle-toed wings, but bull-necked props. Let’s remember that way back in 2007 All Black tighthead Carl Hayman became the most highly-paid rugby player in the world when he signed for Newcastle on a lazy $1 million a year. The trip might be a godsend for Patrick Tuipulotu.
All would be fine for All Black tighthead stocks if it wasn’t for the fact there’s every indication Charlie Faumuina will be in France next year. The grim reality is that not only are our tighthead props likely to be regularly offered stunning European contracts, but also that the position is so demanding that an injury can be just one collapsed scrum away.
So the man on this tour to watch as a possible back-up to Owen Franks in the future is 24-year-old Ofa Tu’ungafasi, who can play on either side of the scrum. At 129kg, size won’t be a problem for him, and in Cron he’ll have a tutor widely regarded as a world leader.
There’s a big element of truth in the talk about a New Zealand rugby machine that churns out players, and when it comes to tightheads, we need it. Is it a little spooky that at 62.7 per cent Beauden Barrett is ranked 36th out of 36 regular goalkickers in test rugby this year? Certainly.
The better news is that he’s got men in the All Black camp like Gilbert Enoka to address the mental issues involved with his kicking, and, amongst others, could easily chat to selector Grant Fox, who knows a bit about technique.
The wild card might be Israel Dagg, who, in a limited goalkicking career, has shown he has a longer range than Barrett. Could he add accuracy to length of kick? The eagle eyes, linked to the poisoned keyboards, of several English scribblers shouldn’t be a big problem on this trip.
Two of the games are against Ireland, and, after the angst of the All Blacks’ petty arrogance back in 1991, all the bridges have been repaired with the Irish media and public in the years since. In France they worship the All Blacks, and in Italy rugby is a sideshow.
So there’s a good chance, barring something really stupid occurring (and surely the dumb quota has been reached for this year), that all the All Blacks will have to concern themselves with on this tour is what happens on the field.