Justin Marshall: Scott Robertson must ‘reward’ player who would solve All Blacks conundrum
Quinn Tupaea and Billy Proctor in action for the All Blacks in 2025.
Former All Blacks star Justin Marshall believes that Scott Robertson should risk upsetting Billy Proctor and pick Quinn Tupaea for Saturday’s game with Ireland in Chicago.
New Zealand will play their first Test since their Bledisloe Cup clash with the Wallabies earlier this month, a game which saw Tupaea start ahead of Proctor in the XV.
According to Robertson, the Hurricanes centre had not been dropped but rested having been ‘banged up’ by their heavy schedule, but the Chiefs powerhouse proceeded to produce a stellar display in Perth.
Tupaea touched down twice in the 28-14 victory and Marshall wants the All Blacks head coach to keep the combination with Jordie Barrett in the midfield.
‘You’ve got to reward players’
“Quinn played so well in that Test in Perth that you’ve got to reward players,” he told the GBRANZ podcast. “Equally, you’ve got to think about where we were struggling and we were struggling with punch, and he provided punch.
“When you’ve got that, you’ve all of a sudden have players that create opportunities for others and the way that Tupaea played in that game. Because it was wet, it didn’t probably showcase how defensively the other team has to adjust.
“They have to go, ‘okay, he’s coming hard, he’s coming on good lines, yes he can off-load’, but the focus on the outside is inhibited because of the wet conditions.
“The off-load is slightly more treacherous so you tend to hold rather than let it go.”
Marshall was joined on the show by former Crusaders and Maori All Blacks centre Tim Bateman, who felt the Barrett-Tupaea partnership had a nice balance to it.
“I’m a big Billy Proctor fan. I know he’s had a mixed run over the last few weeks, but he does everything right. He’s very technically good at the breakdown. At the tackle, he’s well connected. He’s got a great skill set, he’s got good vision, massive work rate, but I agree with Marshy, he just lacked that real physical impact,” Bateman said.
“Jordie’s massive [but] Jordie plays like a ball player and Jordie sort of has to get into a mindset to get real dominant and real direct [if Proctor plays].
“I actually reckon they complemented each other really well, Quinn and Jordie. Having someone who has a single-minded focus and is just going to be really aggressive both sides – carrying and tackling – it helped their whole shape.
“I’m a massive Leicester [Fainga’anuku] fan too, I would be putting him on the wing. It’s the same sort of thing, his aggression, his mindset, he’s the type of player you don’t like playing against.”
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Bateman did suggest Proctor has a wider skill set than his rival for the shirt but that his current game style is perhaps not quite suiting the All Blacks at the moment.
“Quinn is going with the mindset of being really direct and then looking to distribute post-contact, whereas Billy is more concentrating on the pre-contact, but I actually think Billy has the skill set to do both,” he said.
“I think if Billy had a real directive of, ‘I want you to be really combative and then look to distribute if your arms are free’… He’s actually got a great off-load game but you just don’t see it a lot because he’s often thinking pre-contact.
“In big Test matches against rush defences, I think as midfielders you should err on the side of dominating the collision. Run a really good line, dominate the collision and if it opens up, it’s there.”
Main character energy
Bateman also claimed there is a mindset difference, with Tupaea very much willing to take responsibility and potentially risk going slightly off-script in order to make something happen.
“You’ve got two types of players in rugby, just in general. You’ve got guys who really want to impact the game. They want the ball in their hands, they want to be making the tackle, they want to be impacting the game constantly,” he added.
“You could go through the All Blacks 1-15 and I reckon you could pick out those guys quite comfortably, and you could pick out guys that are happy to just play their role.
“I realise you’ve got to have both but the more guys that you can have in the team that want those moments, it lifts everyone else around you.
“That was the difference with Billy and Quinn. One just wants the ball and wants to impact the game, and one was more thinking about the game.”
