Naholo needs work
Long absence hasn’t dulled his edge but All Blacks speedster clearly needs time for nerves to settle, writes Gregor Paul
One game under his belt and this World Cup has become a happier place for Waisake Naholo. His leg held up just fine against Georgia and there is no doubt about his timing, instincts, pace and ability to do the spectacular.
His three-month absence has not dulled him. His first touch against Georgia will hang on as a contender for try of the tournament.
He made the near impossible look effortless and that’s what marks him as potentially a player who could blow apart this tournament.
There’s no question the quarterfinals are going to be tense and drama-filled. There will be no space on the field, defences will be on top for long periods and it will take a bit of magic and ingenuity to score tries.
His try against Georgia showed how hard he is to stop — how effective he can be if he’s given time and space.
But the All Black coaches need Naholo to do more than the spectacular. His ability to score tries and do things no one else could, was the reason they picked him.
They didn’t, however, accept that the spectacular should come at the expense of the basics and it’s the attention to detail that Naholo will be asked to work on this week.
He’s expected to play against Tonga on Saturday — the coaching staff have dropped strong hints on that without quite confirming it. But it’s obvious Naholo needs another run — not just because he’s had such a long lay-off, but also because he has played only 90 minutes or so of test football in his career.
His inexperience showed in Cardiff. Perhaps it was overeagerness on his part — buoyed by his incredible start — but his decisionmaking was questionable. He allowed himself to be bundled into touch a couple of times when he attempted to force his way over the top of defenders or take them for pace with minimal space to do so.
There were opportunities to stop, cut inside and recycle which he spurned, while his ball retention was sloppy at times and he coughed up possession.
“At halftime they said ‘ you have got 10 minutes to go’ and I asked if I could stay out there,” said Naholo. “I really wanted to stay on.
“I think I got really excited and I started to get a little selfish. I have just got to calm down.”
The mistakes he made were largely expected: the coaches know the difficulty of integrating players after long periods of inactivity and they also had to factor in the pressure on Naholo.
He’s had to deal with plenty since being named in the squad so they weren’t expecting him to be perfect.
What they will be after is more composure and awareness from Naholo. They don’t want to discourage him from playing what he sees and backing himself, but he needs to balance that against losing possession.
There were opportunities to stop, cut inside and recycle which he spurned, while his ball retention was sloppy at times and he coughed up possession.