Razor Watch: ‘Red-hot’ Xavier Numia strengthens All Blacks prospects while talented wing ‘playing like a man possessed’

Dylan Coetzee
Add as a preferred source on Google
Split with Xavier Numia (Hurricanes), Ofa Tu'ungafasi (Blues) and Noah Hotham (Crusaders).

Split with Xavier Numia (Hurricanes), Ofa Tu'ungafasi (Blues) and Noah Hotham (Crusaders).

The penultimate round of Super Rugby Pacific is in the books and with it came loads of tries and drama as it heads towards the conclusion of the regular season.

Given the nearing end of the campaign, it is the last push for national selection and we look at who All Blacks boss Scott Robertson may have been impressed by at the weekend.

Hoards of Hurricanes

The ‘Canes ended up beating the Chiefs in a Hamilton thriller and several performances stood out. Fly-half Brett Cameron was the hero of the game kicking the winning penalty late on to clinch the result. He had great help from inside centre Jordie Barrett whose class does not need any introduction.

Their forwards were also blockbuster with the red-hot loosehead Xavier Numia shapeshifting into a centre as he ran 30-odd metres to score a stunning solo try. The prop is the form player in his position and it will be near impossible to look past him for the All Blacks. Elsewhere in the pack, the talented Peter Lakai was superb yet again, as was his hard-working back-row partner Brayden Iose.

Chiefs’ All Blacks produce

Part of the purpose of this list is to identify new talent for the All Blacks but keeping an eye on capped players is equally important. Hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho put in another top outing to underline how consistent he has been this season. In the backline, Anton Lienert-Brown has been outstanding in the last two rounds and looks to be trending nicely for the Test season.

Meanwhile, one cap All Black Emoni Narawa is playing like a man possessed as he seems desperate to make up for lost time following his costly injury last year.

Springboks and All Blacks agree terms to revive blockbuster traditional tours – report

Crusaders hanging on

One of the best things for the Crusaders has been the return of Codie Taylor from a non-playing sabbatical. The hooker has been so good since returning, both as an electric runner in open play and as a leader in the changing room. Ethan Blackadder is another who had a good outing. The thing with the Crusader has never had anything to do with his quality but rather his horrible luck with injuries. Fletcher Newell also got through a boatload of defensive work.

Even despite the tricky season, there is a bolter for the squad in Noah Hotham, who has been both a scorer and creator over the last couple of rounds. Given the departure of Aaron Smith and the injury to Cam Roigard, there is likely another scrum-half to be added to the Test set-up. Hotham will be pushing for that spot but has some stiff competition.

Blues stars

It certainly was a weekend for the props with the rampant Ofa Tu’ungafasi grabbing a double. He has been in some impressive try-scoring form and will have caught Robertson’s eye. So too for AJ Lam who was at the double against the Crusaders as well, but he has a long list of electric wingers to sit behind in terms of All Blacks pecking order.

Happy Highlanders

The back three ran riot against Fijian Drua with Jona Nareki and Timoci Tavatavanawai in particular shining. Like the case of Lam, there is a list of players to sit behind but Tavatavanawai in particular could be considered as his power game can offer the All Blacks something different to work with.

READ MORE: Super Rugby Pacific play-off race permutations: What each side needs in the final round

Blues