Why Sam’s the man to lead the ABs
The All Blacks have a number of questions to answer after the drawn series against the Lions, but it is far from certain that either Australia, South Africa or Argentina will be sufficiently able to ask any of them. We want to know whether Kieran Read is a top captain, whether Sam Cane is worth his place on current form, if Beauden Barrett is quite the 10 that the world hopes he is.
The Read question should be top of the All Blacks’ management list, although I doubt it is. That is not to belittle Read in any way. The current skipper is a champion footballer and appears a thoroughly decent man. But many a fine man and supreme rugby player has turned out to be a lesser captain.
The first big question that Read has to be held accountable for is around his team’s lack of discipline. It has cost the All Blacks victory in three tests over the past nine months. That is not a coincidence. Such things did not repeat themselves under Richie McCaw.
When Joe Moody received a yellow card for a tip tackle last November, Ireland scored two tries while he was off the pitch. The All Blacks reaction to defeat was one of fury in Dublin. They were very fortunate Jaco Peyper did not issue a number of cards of various hue.
Unfortunately the All Blacks leaders defended some of the ugly tackles that went on that day and even now seem to appeal every decision that goes against them. In recent weeks they should have set an example and taken SBW’s suspension on the chin, just as the unfortunate Anthony Watson was obliged to do.
So we should not be surprised when players lose control on the pitch. The All Blacks went after Conor Murray in Dublin in a way that was close to assault. They did the same in the first test of the Lions series. Jerome Kaino was fortunate to stay on the pitch.
That is a reflection on Read’s leadership. He is not that sort of player himself, but as captain he should not turn a blind eye to those in his team who are. Sonny Bill’s ugly hit on Watson did not come out of nowhere. Kaino’s high tackle on Alun Wyn Jones was far from an isolated incident in his own game.
Rory Best, Ireland’s captain, said after the brutality in Dublin: ‘‘I’m a parent myself and you don’t like to see people going off on stretchers.’’
Coach Joe Schmidt, a New Zealander, was not happy about the number of head injury assessments his team were going through after that match.
And in the end some sort of strange justice emerged. The All Blacks cost themselves a series victory because their violence in the tackle was penalised correctly.
After the final test Whitelock
Whitelock has an impressive mana as a captain that perhaps Read lacks.
was asked about the reversed decision in the final minutes. He was offered an excuse. Whitelock said: ‘‘The call’s been made so we can’t change it. There’s a couple of things we’d like to go back in test one and test two, but you know that’s the way it is ... I think in general we probably let ourselves down with the discipline. So that would have been one of the things I’d like to go back and change.’’
They were interesting comments for two reasons. Firstly Whitelock did not question the referee’s call as Read did straight after the game. Secondly, he immediately identified the problem of discipline.
It has been apparent over the course of the season that Whitelock has an impressive mana as a captain that perhaps Read lacks. You think of secondrow captains like Martin Johnson and John Eales and even Craig Clarke of the Chiefs. The best bring a (literally) high-minded authority, but they do not stand above their team.
I suggested Whitelock as a potential captain to Wayne Smith a few years ago and Smith was hesitant. Whitelock was probably still a bit young and immature then. But it is now apparent that Whitelock should be considered as All Blacks skipper. There seems less of a separation with the rest of the team and he is a better communicator with refs.
That was another factor in the Lions series. As soon as Sam Warburton came back as leader, the Lions could parlay like McCaw used to. Read’s slightly highpitched voice and scary eyes and occasionally confrontational verbal style are not always endearing to refs. He intervenes too often and too aggressively and we have seen a few hackles rise.
New Zealand No 8s can make great captains. We think of Buck Shelford and Brian Lochore. Colin Meads said of Lochore: ‘‘He spared himself not an ounce working away in the tight-loose, covering, winning us great lineout ball in the deep, backing and filling and playing his part in the rolling drive-and-feed. As a captain he could be self-effacing, for this was the very nature of the man.’’
Funnily enough, although that description is apt for some of Read’s game and manner, it seems a complete portrait of Whitelock. Scott Robertson described his captain as ‘‘incredible’’ for the Crusaders this season. They talked on the phone almost every day and Whitelock mentioned the importance of that communication in the team’s success.
It’s an odd thing, but I was sitting a few rows behind Whitelock and Read on a plane a few weeks ago. Whitelock’s shirt was hanging out the back of his trousers, he was a bit of a scruff. But your eye was drawn to him and not to Read. He had a mana. You suspected that only Whitelock could have stood in for Viggo Mortensen as Captain Fantastic.