‘Hybrids suit Springboks’ as Jeff Wilson questions whether Leicester Fainga’anuku is a ‘viable option’ for the All Blacks
Crusaders star Leicester Fainga'anuku and an inset of All Blacks legend Jeff Wilson.
Jeff Wilson questions whether hybrid players will suit Dave Rennie’s All Blacks team after Leicester Fainga’anuku’s starring shift at flank for the Crusaders.
Crusaders boss Rob Penney stunningly named the All Blacks back on the side of the scrum for the Super Round meeting against the Waratahs last week. Fainga’anuku enjoyed a handful of cameos in the forward pack during his stint with French club RC Toulon, and many waited patiently for the Crusaders to do the same.
However, few would have predicted that Penney would pull the trigger for the Crusaders‘ debut at their new home, the One New Zealand Stadium, and it was seemingly not planned, with Fainga’anuku revealing that he had just one day of training in the role.
Just one day of prep
“I hope it was good enough for one day’s prep,” he told Sky Sports NZ after his man of the match performance in the 35-20 victory, a game in which he scored a try. “I definitely enjoyed it out there. The tools are in the toolbox if they’re needed.”
His selection and subsequent performance in the back-rower has understandably led to the question of whether All Blacks boss Rennie would be keen to copy the Springboks’ ploy with the likes of Kwagga Smith and Andre Esterhuizen offering Rassie Erasmus an option in the forward pack and in the backs.
Wilson discussed the prospect with fellow former All Black Lima Sopoaga and ex-Wallabies centre Morgan Turinui.
Asked on the Breakdown show, whether the ploy from the Crusaders worked, Sopoaga laughed: “Did it work?
“I don’t know where they’re going to pick him next week. Pick him at center, pick him at seven, who knows? It worked in my opinion; he was unbelievable. Did everything that he should have.”
While Wilson was full of praise for Fainga’anuku, he still questioned whether he could produce that kind of performance at the highest level.
“Look, it was an outstanding performance on a short turnaround. I had spoken to him a couple of weeks earlier in Christchurch, and he actually just wanted to get more involved in the game, so this is the way to do it: convince the coaching staff that you can play in the loose forwards,” the legendary winger said.
“I thought instinctively his positional play for a guy who probably never played there was really good, but his skill set still came to the fore. His ball carrying, his footwear, they saw him score a try, but now is he a viable option? Whether it works at the next level, I’m not quite convinced of that just yet.”
It suits the Springboks, but will it suit Dave Rennie’s All Blacks?
Turinui added: “Oh yeah, we don’t mind getting carried away, do we? ‘Let’s get him there for the All Blacks’.
“But I think the great thing was that jersey, the number seven, meant that he could just go. It’s what we thought it would be. Rob Penny could say, ‘I’m going to put this number on your back, and you just chase the ball and do whatever you want to do.’
“And we saw that he did all the core roles so well of what a seven must do. His decision-making was good, but he did it just a little bit faster than everyone else.”
The way the Springboks utilise their hybrid players was then raised with Sopoaga saying: “The skillset of Kwagga Smith is that he is fast, elusive, and he can do things in the backs that he can also do in the forwards. It gives so much time and ability to share that load around with your players.”
However, Wilson argues that players like Smith and Esterhuizen suit the Springboks’ style of play, and he is unsure whether the same will be true for the All Blacks under Rennie.
“I think it’s the style of football they play in South Africa as well. The fact that they are confrontational. Kwagga is a powerful and dynamic player. You talk to anyone, and he’s like a brick wall,” he said.
“I think his skill set absolutely suits that, and the way the Springboks play, whether or not the All Blacks start going down that path, does that suit the way Dave Rennie wants to play? Do we have players? Does Quinn Tupaea fit that mold? You watch him in Super Rugby, and he is in and around the contact areas more. So for me, it’s something you consider, but you need to be confident that they’ve had enough time in terms of preparing. You also have to think whether they are a lineout option or not.”
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should
Turinui added that just because a player could play in the forwards and the backs, that doesn’t mean that they should do so. The former centre does believe that more hybrid players will emerge, particularly through the sevens circuit.
“The first thing you need to do is work out what the negatives are, and then you see if they’re outweighed by the positives,” the ex-Wallaby said.
“It’s no accident that lots of the players we will talk about and have seen through the years have spent lots of time on the sevens field. The sevens is a great development arena for hybrid players because your core skills have to be good, but your motor has to be brilliant as well.”
He added: “There is could, then there is should. The guys that are in the back row, if you’re an outstanding back rower, you stand more of a chance of being involved consistently than being put out into the midfield.”
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Wilson believes that there are other options in New Zealand beyond Fainga’anuku who could play in the backs, pointing to the athletes in the Hurricanes’ back row.
“The skill set’s there,” he said in reference to Chiefs and All Blacks star Wallace Sititi.
“I mean, anytime you’ve got the speed to be able to defensively stay connected, and the fact you’re not going to lose the foot race to me is really important, and you need to be good on the ground.
“There are a lot of athletes, you talk about your Peter Lakais of the world, Devon Flanders, Brayden Iose, if you look at all of those loose forwards that are playing for the Hurricanes right now, they’ve got that athleticism. Wallace is clearly one of those types of players.”
