Scouting opportunity
North-South match to give NZ selectors one final look at contenders
All Blacks coach Ian Foster will get one final look at contenders for his first All Blacks squad when the North-South match is played in Wellington tomorrow.
Foster, who replaced Steve Hansen after the Rugby World Cup last year, will name his squad on Sunday though New Zealand Rugby are yet to confirm any fixtures because of uncertainty around the coronavirus.
The match, between composite sides representing the country’s two main islands, tomorrow (kickoff at 7.10pm) has also already been postponed once and moved to Wellington Regional Stadium from Auckland because of Covid-19 restrictions.
The teams, coached by Foster’s assistants, named arguably their strongest possible sides for the clash, even if there will be no crowd allowed to watch it.
All Blacks assistant coach John Plumtree, who is in charge of the North team, however, told reporters yesterday they were not considering it a trial.
“Everyone might be seeing it that way, and maybe in the old days they saw it as an All Black trial,” Plumtree said.
“We’ve already seen them go for 10 rounds of derby games.
“This game is about them and New Zealand enjoying the talent we’ve got in this country.”
The game will still likely provide some last-minute selection decisions and produce some mouth-watering individual matchups.
Focus will undoubtedly be on the head-to-head encounter at flyhalf between the South’s Richie Mo’unga and the North’s Beauden Barrett.
Mo’unga was the best player in the number 10 jersey in Super Rugby Aotearoa, but Barrett, who played much of the season at fullback, was starting to regain his form when he shifted to flyhalf towards the end of the season.
Rieko Ioane’s form at centre for the North should also provide an interesting pointer to the selection mix of a crowded midfield. —