All Blacks team: Winners and losers including the ‘benefactors’ of Caleb Clarke’s luckless run as Rieko Ioane continues to pay the price
All Blacks playmaker Damian McKenzie and an inset of Leicester Fainga’anuku.
Following the announcement of the All Blacks team to face England, here are our winners and losers from Scott Robertson’s selections.
Winners
Scott Barrett
The All Blacks captain makes a timely return from injury to lead the side out against England. Scott Barrett slots right back into the starting lineup and will be a massive boost not only on the gainline but at lineout time too.
New Zealand’s set-piece was back to a 100% success rate against Scotland, but they face one of the best lineout competitors in the game in the form of Maro Itoje, with his locking partner Alex Coles being no slouch in that department either.
This is no slight on Josh Lord, who was excellent against Scotland and drops to the bench, but frankly, Barrett is a different kettle of fish with 87 Test caps worth of experience.
Leicester Fainga’anuku
Caleb Clarke’s injury created an interesting headache for Robertson and his coaching team, with the winger being arguably the best of the worst of the All Blacks under the high ball.
Leicester Fainga’anuku was one of the standout performers against Scotland, outside of Damian McKenzie, the best back at Murrayfield, and deserves to retain his place in the starting line-up, albeit in a different position.
The ex-Toulon star now has the opportunity to really nail down his position in the squad and become a serious option at both centre and at wing, and who knows, Robertson might want to give him a bit of a run in the back-row at some point, having performed in that role for his French club.
Anton Lienert-Brown
Another benefactor of Clarke and Jordie Barrett’s injuries, Anton Lienert-Brown, earns his first selection since the first Rugby Championship clash against Australia in August.
It’s been a tough year in the black jersey for the Chiefs midfielder, who is in line to earn just his third appearance after starting the last game of the series against the French.
The 30-year-old has had his injury struggles, and the return of Fainga’anuku, the rise of Billy Proctor, and Quinn Tupaea regaining the form he displayed before his horrific injury in 2022 has seen him slip even further down the pecking order. But his ability to switch between 12 and 13 seamlessly, and his 86 caps worth of experience, means that he simply cannot be discarded.
Beauden Barrett
McKenzie might be producing game-changing performances from the bench, but Beauden Barrett remains the main man in the number 10 jersey for Robertson and his staff.
The 34-year-old might not be the rapid playmaker that won back-to-back World Rugby Player of the Year awards in 2016 and 2017, but there is no doubt that he is still operating at a world-class level with a masterful tactical kicking game.
It is highly likely that Barrett is just holding down the fort until Richie Mo’unga returns, but having racked up 143 Test caps for the All Blacks already, you can bet that he won’t be giving up his place in the squad easily – he proved as much last year when he wrestled the jersey off McKenzie who started the majority of the Tests early on in Robertson’s tenure.
Leroy Carter
The former New Zealand sevens star enjoyed a strong start to his international career with the All Blacks, and that’s perhaps why Robertson has given Leroy Carter another opportunity in the starting lineup after his worst performance at the highest level.
The All Blacks boss has seemingly written off his trip on Darcy Graham as a brain-fade or a professional hazard, and he will hope that it was a one-off. The 26-year-old struggled to really get into the game at Murrayfield on Saturday, and the speedster cannot afford for him to have another underwhelming performance, particularly in the air, as England will run amok if he does.
While Robertson has backed the more experienced options with many of his other selections, he does seem to hold the winger in high regard.
Simon Parker
There perhaps isn’t a greater sign of Robertson reacting to England’s selections than the return of Simon Parker to the starting lineup with Wallace Sititi moving to the bench.
The imposing Chiefs back-rower adds real ballast and size to the All Blacks back-row and allows Sititi to add his pace, power and offloading ability in the final 30 minutes of the game. In Robertson’s first year in charge, New Zealand fell off the pace in the last 20 minutes of Tests, but that has vastly improved this year.
Parker acts as the boxer, landing the body blows in the first 50 minutes, with Sititi tasked with delivering the knockout punch.
While Simon Parker does sound like a West Ham midfielder, he does add grunt, directness and huge work-rate, something that Robertson clearly values in the run-on team, having started the 25-year-old in six Tests already this year.
Billy Proctor
The injury to Clarke has forced a backline shuffle, with Billy Proctor clearly the biggest winner. The Hurricanes star started the year as the go-to choice in the number 13 jersey, but recently lost the jersey with Fainga’anuku returning to the Test fold.
He has well and truly usurped Rieko Ioane in the pecking order, something that looked incredibly unlikely last year. Going toe-to-toe with Lions star Tommy Freeman would have been a real litmus test for Proctor, but Ollie Lawrence provides a more direct opponent and will be just as tricky.
Losers
Rieko Ioane
Rieko Ioane’s stint at Leinster can’t come sooner as he continues to plummet down the pecking order at centre and at wing.
His form has been indifferent for the Blues and All Blacks this year. He was displaced by Proctor in the number 13 jersey as Robertson gave him the opportunity to re-announce himself as an international winger in the first two Tests against France.
He got the same opportunity in the opening three rounds of the Rugby Championship, but was then dropped as Carter got his chance to shine, only to return via the bench in the final round of the tournament.
Not selected against Ireland and Scotland, the injuries to Barrett and Clarke left the door ajar for Ioane to claim one of two spots in the matchday 23, but he was beaten to the punch by Fainga’anuku and Lienert-Brown. The experienced back has been producing underwhelming performances recently and is now paying the price for that form, as there are now real competitors for the roles he fills.
Caleb Clarke
An untimely and unfortunate setback for the big winger who was simply unlucky to hammer his head on the hip of Rory Hutchinson last week.
When Clarke returned to the All Blacks fold after another spate of injuries, he instantly improved their aerial game, and while that fell off against Scotland, he was still one of their best.
He also added pace and power in the wider channels, which will be sorely missed in Twickenham.
Du’Plessis Kirifi
If there was ever a fixture, not against the Springboks, for Robertson to finally test a 6-2 split on the bench, it would be this one.
Had he done so, then Du’Plessis Kirifi would have surely filled one of the six forward roles from the pine, but instead, the coaching staff have stuck with the traditional split, which means that the Hurricane tyro is replaced by Chiefs powerhouse Sititi.
It’s a horses for courses selection as Kirifi is better suited to the breakdown battle against Scotland as he was tasked with slowing down their ruck speed in the latter stages of the game. This time around, the All Blacks want additional height and power in the back-row, meaning that Sititi and Parker are preferred.
Damian McKenzie
While Robertson is adopting a more holistic view of his matchday 23s than he did in his first year of international, the idea of being a starter is still very much a theme of this All Blacks team.
Strong form is usually rewarded with a start, and there is no player more worthy of a run out at the Allianz Stadium than Damian McKenzie.
One can certainly argue that Robertson missed a trick by not selecting McKenzie at full-back, with the Chiefs’ man being one of the better Kiwis under the high ball. Slotting him in at 15 would have allowed Will Jordan to cover for Clarke’s injury, providing a more astute aerial presence.
Instead, England will still view the aerial game as an area where they can really put the All Blacks under pressure.
Ruben Love
What does the Hurricanes star have to do to get a fair shot in the All Blacks jerseys? The red-headed full-back/fly-half has carried more tackle bags than he has minutes played for New Zealand, as he has been repeatedly overlooked regardless of the opposition.
Promoting McKenzie to the starting XV and adding Ruben Love to the bench would have given the ‘Canes ace the opportunity to really stamp his mark in the same manner as the Chiefs man. Instead, one of the most exciting backs in New Zealand remains on the fringe.
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