All Blacks team: Winners and losers as ‘luckless’ forward misses out while Dave Rennie snubs Rieko Ioane and resists the ‘urge’ to beef up the bench
All Blacks Asafo Aumua and Rieko Ioane and head coach Dave Rennie.
Following the announcement of the All Blacks team to face the Springboks in Soweto, here are our winners and losers from Dave Rennie’s selections.
The head coach has made no changes to the backline that succumbed to a defeat in the second Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test match against the Springboks in Cape Town with Damian McKenzie, Will Jordan and Leroy Carter making up the back three while Jordie Barrett and Quinn Tupaea combine in the centres once again.
Cam Roigard and Ruben Love are the half-backs with the only changes to the starting XV coming in the pack. Peter Lakai starts in the six jersey with Simon Parker dropping out of the matchday 23. Luke Jacobson and Ardie Savea remain and seven and eight. Tupou Vaa’i earns his 50th Test cap as he moves back into the second-row to partner Sam Darry, with Fabian Holland named among the replacements.
The final change to the run-on team comes at hooker as Asafo Aumua replaces Codie Taylor, with George Bower and Tyrel Lomax remaining as the starting props. Rennie has also tweaked his bench with Samisoni Taukei’aho and Wallace Sititi now joining Xavier Numia, Fletcher Newell, Holland, Kyle Preston, Anton Lienert-Brown and Josh Moorby.
Winners
Cam Roigard and Ruben Love
For a sixth Test match in a row, Rennie has backed the combination of Roigard and Love as the duo becomes the fulcrum of the All Blacks‘ team. It’s completely understandable that the head coach has backed the successful Hurricanes pairing after their heroics en route to winning the Super Rugby Pacific title.
They have enjoyed similar success in the All Blacks jersey so far under Rennie and are clearly the combination that the head coach wants to invest in – for now at least. Roigard is comfortably the best option at scrum-half, but the competition for Love is far fiercer, particularly now that Richie Mo’unga has joined up with the squad.
Eventually, Rennie will give Mo’unga, Beauden Barrett or even McKenzie a run in the number 10 jersey, but for now, Love is the main man for the first-five position having actually been given a proper opportunity under the new boss.
Leroy Carter
Benched for the first Test, took his opportunity when he started the second and has now been backed to continue that form in the crucial third meeting with the Springboks.
Carter has gone from strength to strength in South Africa and was unlucky not to be in the starting XV for the game at Ellis Park. It was a tough decision between him and Moorby for the series opener, and while that selection call didn’t go his way, he made sure that when the chance came to force his way into the run-on team, he didn’t waste it.
The 27-year-old will need to make improvements under the high ball this weekend, but his pace and work-rate are the two real strengths in his game. He is bound to wreak havoc for the Springboks’ defence but will need to be wary of the threats Kurt-Lee Arendse poses.
Peter Lakai
After two appearances from the bench in the Test series, Lakai is elevated into the starting XV for the clash in Soweto. Rennie has regularly tinkered with his back row in his six internationals since taking over from Robertson, with Savea at number eight now the only consistent selection.
Lakai hasn’t quite replicated his Super Rugby Pacific form this year in the black jersey, but he showed signs of being incredibly close to doing so in his cameo off the bench in Cape Town last week – this after he shone against the Bulls at Loftus.
The All Blacks’ loose forward positions are arguably the most hotly contested roles in the current squad, and Lakai is making a strong claim to become a regular feature alongside Savea, with this being his biggest opportunity to produce a statement performance.
Asafo Aumua
After four appearances off the bench under Rennie, Aumua gets the nod in the starting line-up with veteran hooker Taylor given the week off. The Hurricanes man has taken his game to another level in the past 12 months or so and is finally delivering on the hype his size, athleticism and power promised earlier in his career.
Injuries have hampered his development and rise to this position, but he has overcome those setbacks, and if he can sort his lineout issues, he has all the markings of a truly world-class player.
Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus described Aumua as a ‘monster’ and the front rower has lived up to that billing around the park, landing some hefty hits and regularly getting over the gain-line with his carries in the second half of the Tests. The big question is whether he will have the same impact against a less fatigued Springboks defence.
Dave Rennie
While the All Blacks have had players fall off along the way through injury, Rennie will surely be pleased that he has had a large majority of his first-choice team available to him for the first three Tests.
Sure, Lord and De Groot were missed in Cape Town and having them back this week is a major boost. Both coaches predicted that injuries would be a huge factor by this point in the tour, but Rennie hasn’t really felt the pinch. Anton Segner is the obvious exception, but it’s not like the All Blacks are short on loose forward options, and while Billy Proctor is a quality player, it’s clear that Jordie Barrett and Tupaea are the better combination in the midfield.
Illness has denied some players an opportunity this weekend, but the All Blacks boss is fortunate that injuries haven’t robbed him of important players in key positions with the series levelled.
Tupou Vaa’i
Saturday’s match in Johannesburg will be particularly special for forward Vaa’i, who is set to earn his 50th cap for the All Blacks.
“Tupes is a top man. It’ll be a special day for him and his family and additional motivation for us,” Rennie said after naming his team.
“With both teams heading into the third Test one apiece, there’s everything to play for on Saturday.”
Losers
Rieko Ioane
Pundits have been campaigning for Rieko Ioane to get the nod in the number 23 jersey, replacing Moorby, who was an unused substitute in Cape Town last weekend after the experienced back shone in his appearances against the Stormers, Sharks and Lions in the tour matches.
However, those performances were not enough for him to force his way into the Test 23 with Rennie persisting with Moorby instead. The 29-year-old fell out of favour with Robertson last year after enduring a stark dip in form for club and country. He was then initially overlooked by Rennie despite a notable improvement with Leinster. Ioane was once a sure-fire selection for the All Blacks, and he still has plenty of time to reclaim that status, especially because he has become more open to playing on the wing again for the side.
With Jordie Barrett and Tupaea pretty much locked in as the team’s first-choice centre pairing, Ioane could be a real weapon off the bench going forward, but we will have to wait a little longer for that to materialise.
Ioane would have also been a prime candidate to fill one of the two backline replacement positions had Rennie opted to select a 6-2 bench for this weekend, but the head coach has resisted that urge despite not using Moorby off the bench in Cape Town.
Ethan de Groot and Josh Lord
The All Blacks are still without two starting forwards from the win at Ellis Park for the third Test, as De Groot and Lord remained sidelined after a nasty friendly-fire collision when attempting to tackle Jasper Wiese.
The duo were both enjoying fine runs of form before their head knocks and could have been pivotal in the second meeting in Johannesburg, addressing areas of concern for the All Blacks.
De Groot is arguably the side’s best loosehead scrummager and considering how much the set-piece has dominated the pre-match chat, he could have been a real boost. Angus Gardner wasn’t willing to make decisions on the scrum in Cape Town, as he wanted to move the action away from the set-piece, but Georgian referee Nika Amashukeli is bound to be stricter and more willing to punish indiscretions.
Meanwhile, the All Blacks’ lineout was put under the cosh in the Mother City with Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Ruan Nortje wreaking all kinds of havoc. Even when New Zealand won possession at the set-piece on their own throws, it was often loose ball going to the ground and was far from an ideal attacking platform. Lord could have been crucial both on the All Blacks’ throws and the Springboks’.
Simon Parker
The change in the back-row is clearly a tactical selection as there was little to mark Parker down on in Cape Town. The Chiefs man was aggressive in contact and used his massive frame to stall the Boks’ maul on several occasions.
However, the coaches believe that the combination of Jacobson, Lakai and Savea is better suited for this weekend, which is not a slight on Parker. As mentioned above, the back-row is hugely competitive and, considering the different styles and strengths that each player brings to the table, Rennie is able to make horses-for-courses selections, and this week Parker isn’t the thoroughbred he needs.
Ethan Blackadder
But Ethan Blackadder may well have been particularly so when one considers just how brilliant the Crusaders man was in Johannesburg against the Lions just over a week ago. The 31-year-old’s career has been severely hampered by injury after injury, but this time around it is illness that has denied him an opportunity to pull on the black jersey.
It has been reported that Blackadder was in serious contention for the third Test because of his heroics against the Lions, a game where he scored two tries in an all-action display, so it’s a real shame that the luckless loose forward misses out because of health issues.
Beauden Barrett
12 months ago, it would have been almost unfathomable that a fit Beauden Barrett would be overlooked not only for the three Tests in South Africa, never mind for the first six Test matches of the All Blacks’ season.
The veteran playmaker has been backed by Sir Steve Hansen, Ian Foster and Robertson but has now slipped down the pecking order under his fourth All Blacks coach. It was bound to happen eventually; only a handful of players get to bow out as the top dog, but Barrett’s time in the black jersey is not over just yet.
Still, he has plenty of work to do if he is to move up the pecking order at fly-half or full-back, with Rennie persisting with Love in the former and McKenzie in the latter.
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Richie Mo’unga
Meanwhile, Mo’unga will have to wait another week at least if he is to finally mark his return to international rugby after a three-year hiatus. Robertson fought vehemently to get the playmaker back on New Zealand Rugby’s payroll and ultimately succeeded in doing so, but he never got the opportunity to utilise his talents.
Rennie will still benefit from Mo’unga’s return but has stated that he needs more time in the squad and in training to come to terms with the All Blacks’ structures. Depth is crucial in international rugby, and Mo’unga will eventually start to compete with Love, McKenzie and Barrett for that fly-half berth, but right now, he is restricted to a squad member role for the time being. Will we see him in action in Baltimore? Only time will tell.
Patrick Tuipulotu
There is no doubt that Patrick Tuipulotu is highly regarded in the All Blacks’ set-up but the team’s lineout failures have seen him drop out of the matchday 23 after coming off the bench in Cape Town. Rennie has reacted to the faltering set-piece by recalling Sam Darry into the starting line-up to partner Vaa’i with Holland shifting to the bench.
Fatigue will have factored into the head coach’s selections but Tuipulotu also has a tendency to go missing in matches and the All Blacks will be keen to really capitalise on their dominance in the final quarter of the Test.
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