Genuine test of character for discarded Kaino
Coach Steve Hansen has made it clear no-one can take their position in the All Blacks for granted.
OPINION: Jerome Kaino might want to keep his head down as he works through the toughest period of his All Blacks career. He probably does not want to see that writing on the wall.
He is now clearly the All Blacks’ third choice No 6 and that is a precarious position to occupy for a rugby player who is 34 and whose most explosive days are clearly behind him. More so when you factor in the youth, athleticism, power and vitality of the two young men ahead of him — Liam Squire and Vaea Fifita.
Kaino’s body of work as an All Black deserves a much grander conclusion than the one he would appear to be undergoing. He has been a long and loyal servant of New Zealand rugby, played 81 tests in a career that began in 2004 and has been a key part of two muchneeded World Cup triumphs.
But this is sport. More to the point, these are the All Blacks. Harsh realities don’t always line up on the side of the good guys. And glorious, ticker-tape endings are the preserve of the fortunate few.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to view this as anything but the last days of Kaino’s career. Being left out of the side to face Argentina in Buenos Aires this morning was the latest nail in that metaphorical coffin.
If Kaino was a serious chance to resurrect his test career, he surely would have been given this Rugby Championship clash to show he still has what it takes to continue at the highest level.
Instead, he has received a flea in his ear from a coach whose astute judgment on the matter of talent and test readiness deserves the utmost respect.
‘‘He’s the same as everybody else, he’s got to earn the right to play in the jersey,’’ said Steve Hansen, after naming Fifita to start at No 6 against the Pumas. With Squire on the plane directly to South Africa, he looks a certainty to start there next week against the Boks.
Continued Hansen: ‘‘Squire and Vaea took the opportunity to play well in his absence. He’ll have to wait his turn too.’’
These cannot be reassuring words for Kaino who is working his way through the most uncomfortable of final years as an All Black, if this indeed is his fate. The personal issues which saw him return to Auckland early from the Bledisloe opener and then sit out the next few tests have certainly not helped his cause.
Hansen’s brutal honesty is to be commended, though. His job is to send out the best possible All Blacks side to win test matches. It is not to cling to some misguided sense of loyalty to players who have served him well in the past. We’ve seen it before, of course. Buck Shelford was one of our greatest All Blacks, and an undefeated skipper to boot. But his career ended ingloriously when he was dropped in 1990 for the younger, more dynamic Zinzan Brooke. He never made it back.
Others, too, have not ended the way their careers probably deserved. Christian Cullen was unceremoniously dumped (along with Jeff Wilson and Taine Randell) by John Mitchell in 2003, with the All Blacks coach declaring: ‘‘Christian was a bloody great rugby player but that is the past. We look at current form.’’
If that has eerie overtones to Hansen’s comments on Kaino, you’re probably not a million miles from the truth. Remember, it is the coach’s job to make the big decisions. Right or wrong.
Justin Marshall, a fine All Black halfback who played 81 tests between 1995 and 2005 was eventually politely told he did not figure in plans for the next World Cup, and was better off concluding his career in the north.
Even Julian Savea of the current crop of All Blacks has had to face the harsh realities of being an international in New Zealand.
He would assuredly waltz into any other international lineup in the world but is surplus to requirements under Hansen, despite a remarkable record of 46 tries in 54 tests. Time is on his side, at 27, but his replacement (Rieko Ioane) is just 20 and looks very much a keeper.
As Kaino watches on from the stands in BA, it’s worth wondering what will be going through his head. Has he already read that writing on the wall? Has he started composing his retirement speech?
The All Blacks can be a joyous environment for a player on top of his game. But a brutally tough one when that form starts to wane. Noone is more conscious of that right now than Jerome Kaino.