Team selection confirms the best on park policy

Whatever else anyone wants to read into the All Blacks team for the second Bledisloe Cup test, the selectors have confirmed they are committed to the best players on the park policy.

The twin playmaker concept of using Richie Mo’unga at first-five and Beauden Barrett a fullback is here to stay. That’s going to be the set-up at the World Cup. Like it or hate it, it’s the way things are going to be.

The back row of Ardie Savea, Sam Cane and Kieran Read — that’s pretty much locked in as well. These two combinations are going to be used for the big World Cup games.

There hasn’t been universal agreement about the validity and effectiveness of the Mo’unga-Barrett combination since it was first tried in Wellington three weeks ago.

That’s largely because there hasn’t been overwhelming evidence of its effectiveness. The partnership hasn’t screamed rip-roaring success and in this age of instant gratification, if something doesn’t deliver a truck load of tries the first time it is rolled out, then patience wears thin.

Those in the shift Ben Smith to fullback camp seem to be doing so under the misguided belief that had the veteran been stationed in his preferred role in Perth, somehow the team would have flowed in a more compelling manner.

Likewise, Barrett had he played at first-five, would have been no less likely to have glued the attack better than Mo’unga, because the fundamental issue with the performance was a lack of physical parity in the collisions and then subsequently a lack of representation after Scott Barrett was red-carded.

For those who have been prepared to look a little harder for the detail and been more realistic with their expectations, the partnership has delivered enough to suggest it is the right way to go.

With a man down they created space and Barrett and Mo’unga orchestrated their limited troops with the sort of seamless authority that suggested they are having no difficulty co-existing as decision-makers.

It would be mad to ditch the concept now as it’s conceivable that by this time next week, the world could be very afraid of where the All Blacks suddenly appear to be in terms of ability. It does require a leap of faith to buy into that but the signs have been there in the last two weeks.

Just as there was a period in Perth where it was apparent that having Savea, Cane and Read together gave the All Blacks a chance to attack the breakdown with an aggression and intensity they previously haven’t.

Those two key combinations are now certainties for the World Cup but the rest of the selection for this weekend is a little harder to interpret.

Neither Ben Smith nor Rieko Ioane have played well in the last two tests but they may have always been pencilled in to sit this game out as the selectors need more evidence on which to make decisions about their outside backs for Japan.

They know everything they need to about Ioane and Smith and presumably have to see more of George Bridge and Sevu Reece to determine if one or both of them should make the World Cup.

The same is true, presumably, at prop where Nepo Laulala starts instead of Owen Franks with the chance to stake a claim for a World Cup spot in a position which is congested.

It’s probably just coincidence that there are underperforming senior players in the positions in which the selectors need answers about emerging options.