All Blacks great’s Springboks concern which should determine Dave Rennie’s selection with Super Rugby ‘not as strong as it was’
New All Blacks boss Dave Rennie and current Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus.
Former All Blacks number eight Murray Mexted insists that there is more to selection than Super Rugby and Dave Rennie must not get too sucked in by individuals’ form.
Plenty of players are already putting their hands up for international call-ups on the back of fine performances for their franchises.
New boss Rennie will certainly have a number of difficult decisions when he names his squad for the Nations Championship, which kicks off in July.
However, it is not simply about producing on the field for their teams but whether they have the physical capabilities to transition to the highest level, especially when it comes to facing the behemoths of the Springboks.
‘Against the Springboks you’ve got to nail it’
“It’s Super Rugby level at the moment because you’ve got to understand that Super Rugby is not as strong as it was,” he told the DSPN podcast with Martin Devlin.
“Super Rugby is a bloody good level of rugby but it’s not as strong as it was when we had more competitive teams playing. I’m talking about the South Africans more than anything because they stand you up.
“Either you’ve got to be in or out against the South Africans, there’s no halfway measure. You can mix it against the Australians and sometimes if you have an ordinary day, you can do okay, but against the Springboks you’ve got to nail it.
“You’ve got to get your ball and it’s got to be two hands, and you’ve got to have a good game.”
Mexted, being a former All Blacks number eight, particularly focused on the loose trio and looked back at the Chiefs v Hurricanes clash, where he felt the visitors perhaps lacked a bit of balance.
“I’m a bit worried about the Hurricanes because it’s bloody hard when you’ve got two guys that aren’t really big enough – Kirifi and Lakai aren’t really big enough to play six or eight, they’re both really a seven – but they’re good rugby players,” he said.
“At Super Rugby level, which is one step down from when the South African teams were involved, you can get away with it.
“You go that next step and you can’t get away with it, you get exposed. You don’t get the ball and everybody cries until Sunday morning.
“Hunting and gathering is still the expression you’ve got to coin for an openside flanker and to a degree, a number eight these days. It’s all about the ball, it really is.
“I thought the Hurricanes got away with the lack of size in the loose forwards because the selection of the Chiefs changed – you took out a 1.95m blindside flanker (Samipeni Finau).”
Uncapped rising stars
With Kirifi and Lakai on the smaller side, Devan Flanders has become an even more important factor in that Hurricanes back-row.
Flanders has received rave reviews this season and he was one of two uncapped players namechecked by Mexted in regards to Test selection this season.
“I was quite interested to see Flanders because Flanders is a ball winner and he’s 1.93m, so he’s just a little bit smaller than Boshier. That’s why I think those two guys should be considered very seriously [by Rennie],” he added.
“They’re big enough, they’ve got aerial possession ability to play against anybody.”
