Wins, losses and World Cup tension
A vintage year it wasn’t, but it was hardly all bad. Richard Knowler reflects on the All Blacks of 2018.
Take your pick of the highs and lows from the All Blacks’ season. There was the last-gasp win over South Africa in Pretoria, a pulsating 32-30 victory that left the crowd at Loftus Versfeld gasping with frustration.
Then there were the losses, and many All Blacks fans remember these more than the great victories. Defeats to South Africa in Wellington and Ireland in Dublin caused heartache and despair for diehard supporters, creating some pre-World Cup apprehension ahead of the tournament in Japan next year. Forget that for the moment. Here’s some talking points from an action-packed 2018.
Best newcomer
Twelve months ago Karl Tu’inukuafe was hunting for a contract with an overseas club, and getting nowhere.
Then Tom Coventry, his coach at North Harbour, asked newly appointed Chiefs boss Colin Cooper whether he could do loosehead prop Tu’inukuafe a favour and allow him to train with his squad over the summer months.
When Tu’inukuafe parked up and introduced himself to the unfamiliar faces at the Chiefs he turned the first page on a wonderful story. Injuries resulted in him being belatedly presented with a Super Rugby contract, and then, of course, the All Blacks selectors fired him an SOS.
In an age when players are often tagged for better things from their high school years, the unexpected rise of Tu’inukuafe to the top is one of the great rugby yarns of 2018.
He may have missed out on the World Rugby breakthrough player of the year award, but Tu’inukuafe shouldn’t take umbrage. He is a genuine prospect for the World Cup squad.
Welcome back
Good news. Dane Coles has still got some juice in the tank. Having to recover from injuries, a concussion and a bung knee were the major issues, forcing the hooker off the scene for long periods in 2017 and 2018. Then the curtains were swiped back and he was welcomed back to test footy once again. Four appearances on the northern tour took him to 60 test caps and, barring another injury crisis, he has the ability and experience to challenge Codie Taylor for the No 2 jersey at the World Cup.
Last call ladies and gentlemen
Sonny Bill Williams still looks a million bucks, but he’s battling. Fourteen years as a professional in a rugged contact sport will inevitably take its toll. Williams has put his body under immense stress in the NRL, and in rugby for various clubs in New Zealand, France and Japan. It appears to be catching up with the 33-year-old.
The shoulder injury the midfielder suffered against England in London was the latest OPINION: And your All Blacks player of the year for 2018 is . . . drum roll please. Er, there seems to be some problem here with the envelope. It’s empty.
OK, it hasn’t been quite that bad in a – by their standards – sub-par year for the All Blacks, but when you dig deep, contenders for player of the year don’t exactly jump off the page, as they have in other seasons.
The All Blacks lost two tests in 2018, but that number could easily have been doubled if you consider the Great Escape in Pretoria and the TMO-inspired Get Out of Jail play at Twickenham.
So finding a pre-eminent All Black for 2018 has made for an interesting process. You can make the case that just two players make the cut.
Stand up Codie Taylor and Ardie Savea.
Say what? A hooker who spends half his time with his head buried in dark places and a loose forward who started only seven of his 13 tests for 2018?
Yep, you heard right.
Let’s start by eliminating the obvious. Despite what World Rugby believes, Beauden Barrett and Rieko Ioane simply haven’t dominated to the extent they did in 2017. Barrett had a flawed season, at times struggling with his goalkicking, at others with that fast-approaching defensive line, and barring the obvious exceptions – that tour de force on Eden Park against the Wallabies – simply wasn’t the consistent force we have become accustomed to watching.
Ioane hasn’t had a bad season. Just not a great one. When he’s had ball he’s generally made ground, has added 11 tries to his startling haul of 22 in 24 tests and remains one of the supreme wings in the game.
But as the All Blacks’ back attack floundered a little over the back half of 2018, he became too much of a spectator and not enough of an instigator.
Then there’s Brodie Retallick. Perpetual power and precision. Enduring excellence. But he played just seven tests in 2018, and his penultimate appearance, the 16-9 defeat to the Irish, was by his standards a shocker.
Of course Ben ‘Never a Bad Game’ Smith is in the conversation. The guy is class personified, maximises every chance he gets and might be the best high-ball practitioner in the game.
But he played just five of his 12 tests at fullback, where his natural instincts allow him to be at his best, and was just not the same force on the right wing where coach Steve Hansen seems intent on playing him.
Skipper Kieran Read also had a useful enough return from major back surgery, but lacked a defining performance, had some leadership
problem, forcing him to skip the rest of the games on the northern tour. Williams made just five appearances for the All Blacks in 2018. Can the national selectors afford to take an injury-prone player to the World Cup?
Up for grabs
Imagine how great it would be to issues and was sub-par against Ireland. Young centre Jack Goodhue looked good too but played just seven tests and couldn’t quite nail the exclamation point at year-end.
So that brings us to our two standouts.
Savea barely put a foot wrong in 2018 with probably his best body of work as an All Black.
He was an outstanding, highenergy sub when Sam Cane was running out at No 7, highlighted by a game-changing turn in Pretoria that inspired the miracle comeback by the All Blacks. He also put in a promising shift at No 8 in Argentina.
Then when he got his chance as a starter in November he made every post a winner to emerge as a tour standout with a series of bustling, foraging, physical displays.
watch Liam Squire run down the outside channels on the hard and fast grounds in Japan during the World Cup. Or to see him plaster a ball carrier who tries to make yardage close to the ruck.
It sounds great. Yet Squire is yet to burst out of the shadow of his predecessor in the No 6 jersey, the great Jerome Kaino. Injuries keep stalling Squire’s momentum.
The message from All Blacks coach Steve Hansen is that Scott Barrett is still a lock, even though he has made several appearances as a substitute at blindside flanker. Vaea Fifita is still a project in progress. Which takes us back to Squire. If his body is intact he remains the frontrunner.
Yes, no – what?
At the start of the international season, we all thought Damian McKenzie was going to be moulded into a test No 10. The message from the All Blacks coaches, who asked he start at playmaker for the Chiefs in Super Rugby, was that his future was in that job and not at fullback.
McKenzie started at first fiveeighth
But there was one man more deserving of being named the standout All Black of 2018.
Taylor has had to bide his time as the backup to the force of nature that was Dane Coles at his best. But as Coles has battled injury the last couple of years, the Crusaders hooker has come into his own, and his 2018 body of work reflected a player at his peak, combining the core roles of his position with the catch, pass, run and offload skills that are now expected from top No 2s.
With signs at year end that Coles is regaining some of his swagger, the All Blacks look well served at hooker. But given Taylor’s consistency, core strengths and ability to make gamechanging plays at key moments, he deservedly starts World Cup year as the incumbent.
against France in Dunedin on June 23, and his performance was more than sound.
Then Richie Mo’unga helped guide the Crusaders to the defence of their Super Rugby title. He was very good, too. Good enough to force a feisty public debate as to whether he should replace Beauden Barrett in the tests.
It didn’t happen. But the continued inclusion of Mo’unga in the All Blacks squad forced a change in thinking in regards to McKenzie. His starts on the northern tour were all at fullback.
Next season is going to be a biggie for . . .
Hard to go past Akira Ioane on this one.
Remember Ioane? Big bloke with silky ball skills, acceleration and can get a bit toey at times. If switched on for the full 80 minutes Ioane can be a real nuisance at No 8 for opposition teams.
Clearly there is a tough love programme in place with this bloke. Ioane, who had a standout season for Auckland when they won the Mitre 10 Cup, missed out on an invite when the All Blacks took a massive squad to Japan.
It’s now over to the revamped Blues coaching staff to convince him to go full noise for every game in Super Rugby. Rub out the inconsistencies and he may yet force his way into the World Cup squad.
What about Waisake?
Waisake Naholo didn’t have a memorable World Cup in 2015. The wing recovered from a broken leg to be passed fit by the All Blacks management for that global tournament in England and Wales, but never appeared to be fully fit.
As a consequence he made just two appearances, in pool games against Georgia and Tonga.
This season was hardly memorable. He got a run against Japan and Italy on the northern tour, being overlooked for the blockbusters against England and Ireland. Jordie Barrett scored four tries on the wing in the tour finale against Italy in Rome – three of them were pretty easy to be fair – but his versatility could be viewed as being more important than the specialist skills offered by Naholo when it comes to picking a World Cup squad.
World Cup worries
The All Blacks won 12 of their 14 matches this season, but clearly the gap between World Rugby’s topranked team and the chasers – read South Africa, Ireland, England and Wales – is rapidly closing. With a little less fortune the All Blacks would have lost to the Springboks in Pretoria and England in London, on top of the ones they suffered against South Africa in Wellington and Ireland in Dublin.
A 10-4 record for the All Blacks would really have the nervous types weeping tears into their tea cups over the summer months. The pre-World Cup apprehension is understandable. The Rugby Championship will be eagerly awaited, especially the test against the Springboks in Wellington.
Swapsies
Time to get all dreamy. If the All Blacks could poach two players from opponents faced this season, who would they grab?
What about Springboks halfback Faf de Klerk, and Ireland blindside flanker Peter O’Mahony. They both go well.
Stay or go?
Put the smart money on Steve Hansen getting a fresh gig at NZ Rugby after the 2019 World Cup. And it won’t be to polish the silverware.