Ex-All Blacks boss: ‘I can’t think of a reason why they’d go back to TJ Perenara’
All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson has been criticised for selecting TJ Perenara.
Ex-All Blacks boss Laurie Mains has criticised Scott Robertson’s selections for Saturday’s second Rugby Championship clash against Argentina.
New Zealand named their 23-man squad on Thursday and it featured four changes, with Rieko Ioane, Will Jordan, Caleb Clarke and Tamaiti Williams coming into the XV.
But it was who remained from the disastrous opening encounter against Los Pumas which shocked Mains, singling out TJ Perenara’s inclusion.
The former New Zealand head coach stated that there are “some selections that I find a bit perplexing”, with Perenara at the top of the list.
Pressure put on McKenzie
“I thought when Cortez Ratima came on, things looked sharper and faster and I’ve got to admit I’m surprised. They will have their reasons, but I am surprised TJ Perenara is starting again,” Mains told Newstalk ZB.
“To be honest, I tried, but I can’t think of a reason why they’d go back to TJ. Here’s the other thing; his service and the sporadic nature of the passing of the ball I think also affected Damian McKenzie.
“Now, that certainly wasn’t one of his best games, and we know when Damian’s put under extreme pressure at times he struggles to cope with it. I think it had a huge impact on his game as well.
“I thought they might put Beauden Barrett, two times in a row the best player in the world as a first five-eighth, I thought he might go back into first five-eighth, but that hasn’t happened either.”
Ex-All Blacks boss ‘incredibly optimistic’ for New Zealand under ‘sensational’ Scott Robertson
That opened up the debate around the playmakers. Currently, McKenzie has been trusted with the fly-half jersey but the Chiefs star has not necessarily found his best form during the 2024 Test season.
Some have urged Robertson to move Beauden Barrett into fly-half and select Jordan at full-back, which would result in the 29-year-old switching to the bench.
It was a duty McKenzie performed well at the 2023 Rugby World Cup as he often managed to impress as a replacement, but Barrett was also effective in that role during the recent England series.
Mains is therefore not sure that the incumbent fly-half is better suited to being an impact player in comparison to Barrett.
“It’s hard to say that when you see what Beauden Barrett did off the bench against England. A game that was at risk of losing, he just turned the game on its head from full-back. But he can do that at first five-eighth as well,” he said.
“When it comes to tough Test matches, you’re not worried about how much to win the easy Test matches by, you’re worried about winning the tough ones. And we’ve got a few tough ones ahead of us this year.
“You have to select players that handle that real tough pressure well and to be honest, Beaudy Barrett is probably the best in the world at that.”
Come unstuck
Mains was effusive with his praise for Robertson following the July Tests, but the 49-year-old is now under a bit more pressure following the Argentina defeat.
“Scott Robertson had a very good start to the season. The two wins over England and then Fiji, I thought were a great start because that was a very good England team and there were a whole lot of new players who had to be brought into the All Blacks,” he said.
“Now, it came a bit unstuck against Argentina, and there were some reasons for that. Argentina said ‘we’re not going to kick the ball to the All Blacks, because they’re too good on the counter-attack, but we’re going to counter-attack when they kick to us and run at them’.
“And incidentally, they had the players to do it. Unfortunately, TJ Perenara kicked away five of the defensive balls, three of them far too long for anybody to get under, and we were put under great pressure with their counter-attacks, and then a couple were charged down. Then Argentina are still in our 22 with an attacking lineout.”
