‘It was like Jonah Lomu’ – Ex-All Black’s verdict on Leicester Fainga’anuku experiment
Crusaders star Leicester Fainga'anuku.
Former All Blacks hooker James Parsons is wary about getting too caught up in the hype of Leicester Fainga’anuku’s man-of-the-match shift at flank for the Crusaders.
Rob Penney rolled the dice for the Super Rugby Pacific Super Round fixture against the Waratahs by naming the All Blacks centre/winger on the side of the scrum, but the gamble largely paid off as the defending champions romped to a 35-20 victory with Fainga’anuku crossing the whitewash in the win.
The Crusaders boss’ selection call dominated the build-up and reaction to the match as it was the first time that Fainga’anuku got a run in the forward pack in New Zealand, having enjoyed cameos with RC Toulon in the role previously.
While the 26-year-old has received largely positive feedback for his performance, Parsons took a broad look at his shift, particularly from the perspective of the positional demands, and argued that he could have had a similar impact had he just played outside centre.
Jonah Lomu-esque
The former Blues hooker likened the ploy from the Crusaders to how the All Blacks utilised the late, great Jonah Lomu, who used to be shifted into the forward pack simply to create more opportunities for him to get his hands on the ball.
“It was interesting, but I felt like the game plan was like back when Jonah Lomu was playing, and get Lomu the ball. In attack, in particular, he was still sort of playing that midfield role. A lot of short lineouts were used, and even in the pod work, I’m convinced he could still do a similar role in a 13 or an 11 jersey, in and around the pod work he does,” he said on the Aotearoa Rugby Podcast.
“I was surprised that they didn’t put him on the blindside at scrum time. I thought they probably could have moved Lio-Willie or Dom Gardner just defensively, because a couple of times the Tahs got on the edge really easily because he was caught scrummaging and didn’t get off, so it doesn’t free the defence to get to that edge.”
As a former front-rower, Parsons took particular interest in Fainga’anuku’s antics at scrum time and concluded that the Crusaders should have ‘helped’ him more by letting him pack down on the blindside or at number eight. The former hooker said that Fainga’anuku was guilty of not getting out of the set-piece quickly enough and added that while he had a good game in open play, he profited significantly from the performance of fellow flanker Dom Gardner.
Big performances from the Crusaders back-rowers
“Look, he played amazingly, like there’s no question he did the job within the game plan that he was given. You know what he can do defensively, and he’s good at that breakdown,” he continued.
“But there were some big performances around him to allow him to play that style. In particular, Dom Gardner was just as huge. He actually had more run meters, believe it or not, than Leicester with less carries. But look, it’ll be interesting to see how it would go in a derby.”
Adding further context to the Crusaders star’s performance against the Waratahs, Parsons looked at how other openside flankers’ numbers from the weekend’s Super Round action.
“Leicester had 23 touches and 19 times he carried, and if you look at Fraser McReight, he had 15 touches, carried eight times; Du Plessis Kirifi had 22 touches, he carried eight times. He needs to get that balance right because teams will find it a little bit predictable, and they’ll load up on him defensively,” he said.
“If they can evolve that role to him being more of a ball-player, even off set-pieces, I think he could be more destructive in that role. They could give him a hand and maybe put him at blindside flanker and just have him out a little bit.”
Need for more dominant carries
Former Crusaders scrum-half Bryn Hall weighed in by saying that the selection ploy from his former club was possibly to get more gain-line carries, something they have struggled with due to the injuries of Tamaiti Williams, Ethan Blackadder, and Codie Taylor throughout the season, with Scott Barrett also taking up a non-playing sabbatical.
“The Crusaders’ forward pack, for some parts of the year, hasn’t been able to get that lightning-quick ball,” he remarked.
“Leicester had 19 ball carries, was the top ball carrier in the forward pack, and I think that’s what his role should be, it’s been able to get over the advantage line, get touches, and make it a little bit more difficult for defences… You saw on the edge with the little offloads, picking and going through the middle, having more of a license in and around the ball, but maybe to Jip’s [Parsons] point, knowing that he’s going to be a big ball carrier because he is a back, he has that skill set to be able to tip and zero out the back – which we saw a little bit.”
He added: “Look, it’s his first game that he’s been there. He played a bit there at Toulon, but you have to think if they do continue with this, he’s only going to get better around those little things, the tip balls, the zero ball, and not being able to be so dominant carry focus. But I’d have to think, their game plan for Rob Penney, from what I saw, is that being able to get him the ball to get over the advantage line and then being able to unlock the attack, and being able to use their phase play shape and even little tip balls with their forwards on the front foot.”
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“It’s easy to say that,” Parsons argued. “But out of his 19 carries, he set 14 rucks. He got gain-line 40% of the time, and he got lightning-quick ball 30% of the time.
“That’s what I mean, if he gets that balance between carry and pass… out of those 19 touches, 14 rucks set, so he gets the offload away, but he can do that at centre, he can do that at wing. I still think he can get that edge threat. If they are going to use him more as a ball-player forward, it’s just making sure they get their balance right.
Fainga’anuku is a dynamic threat
The ex-hooker said that he watched the game multiple times to form his opinion, and while he was critical of Fainga’anuku’s performance, he did see potential.
“He made some dents, but it wasn’t necessarily off those rucks that were quick ball. It’s so complicated, I’ve had to watch the game a couple of times because it’s easy to be knee-jerk and I probably was a little bit knee-jerk and defensive to forwards in my initial watch,” he explained.
“But he attracts a lot of bodies, although it wasn’t a lightning-quick ball, he made the dent, I suppose tied in the defence, and then allowed them to go on the outside. So it’s not necessarily all about the gain-line, all about the lightning-quick ball because of what he does in terms of that threat.
“When he started playing the ball out the back, short balls, that’s when I thought, wow, okay, he is a dynamic threat.”
