Springboks legend calls out ‘the one combination that is not working’ for the All Blacks and wades into debate over Dave Rennie’s ‘big surprise’ omission
All Blacks duo Damian McKenzie and Beauden Barrett with Du'Plessis Kirifi, inset
Legendary Springboks forward Victor Matfield has highlighted the one All Blacks combination he felt didn’t work under Scott Robertson and has also taken new head coach Dave Rennie to task over his decision to omit Du’Plessis Kirifi from the squad unveiled on Monday.
The Rennie era in charge of New Zealand gets underway next month with the Nations Championship fixtures at home to France, Italy and Ireland. A 34-man squad was named for the games just two days after the Hurricanes clinched their first Super Rugby title in a decade with a comprehensive win in the final over the Chiefs.
However, while the Wellington-based franchise had 11 players chosen in Rennie’s maiden squad, eyebrows were raised that he didn’t select a 12th in Hurricanes skipper Kirifi. Peter Lakai was selected from the Super Rugby title winners, but the new coach’s five other loose forwards consisted of skipper Ardie Savea, who has just returned from a season in Japan, Chiefs trio Simon Parker, Wallace Sititi and Luke Jacobson as well as the uncapped Anton Segner of the Blues.
Kirifi’s exclusion took Matfield by surprise as he had watched the Hurricanes No.7 impress in their 60-5 hammering of the Chiefs. He also wondered what Robertson’s successor would do about the 10/15 selection, claiming the picking last year of both Damien McKenzie and Beauden Barrett didn’t work for the All Blacks.
Appearing on Rugby Rivals, Matfield began by sharing his thoughts on the newly crowned Super Rugby champions. “I watched the Hurricanes game, and the two wingers (Josh Moorby and Fehi Fineanganofo) were outstanding. The whole Hurricanes team were unbelievable.
“The big surprise for me is Du’Plessis not being there. He led that Hurricanes team, he was in everything, unbelievable on the ball as well, so big surprise for me that he is not there, and it will be interesting who is going to be their first choice 10. That is a big call for the All Blacks selectors. (Ruben) Love has been outstanding. It will be very interesting.”
Matfield went on to elaborate about his main All Blacks concern heading into a campaign that features July matches in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland in the new Nations Championship before the Greatest Rivalry tour to South Africa in August.
“There is still a lot of weaknesses in the All Blacks,” he continued. “You guys go on as if there is big problems: you only lost three games last year, we [South Africa] lost two – it’s so close. But for me, it’s in those key positions and I go back to 10/15 more as a combination.
“They tried, let’s say, McKenzie and Barrett. For me, that is the one combination that is not working, the two of them together. I am a Springbok, so they can keep playing them, but if I was an All Black selector, that’s the one thing I have felt that doesn’t work.
“Either they need to get a solid 15 and pick someone there all the time, and they can play around in the 10s, but they also have (Richie) Mo’unga coming back, and he will be back in there quite soon. If Love doesn’t get a chance very soon, I don’t know when he will get a chance.
“And then the other thing was your loose-trio combination. Although they are all great players, it just feels like you haven’t got the balance right of who’s playing where. Again, not having a guy like Du’Plessis as the openside flanker will have a big impact. Because Sititi is still there, will they move Savea to openside? It will be interesting to see.”
John Kirwan, the 1987 World Cup winner with the All Blacks, claimed Savea was a “seven every day of the week” and he also shared his thoughts on the exclusion of Kirifi. “The talking point is who didn’t get selected, really,” he suggested.
“The biggest ones were Du’Plessis Kirifi, who has probably had his best season, and then Rieko Ioane. They’re two massive omissions. The new guys deserve to be there, Anton Segner and Fehi, who has got in there on the wing. He has been outstanding all season, Moorby as well.
“So those guys probably deserve it, the majority coming for the Hurricanes. Basically, about 11 of them in the squad. But Du’Plessis Kirifi not getting in, and leaving Rieko Ioane out after – he is probably the first one who has missed out after a financial sabbatical – so they are the big talking points for me.
“They talked about form, and it’s interesting you talk about Du’Plessis, the only thing I could read into what Dave Rennie said – and what an amazing story that is coming down from Germany, going to school, coming to the Blues, he has been outstanding all season – was we think Segner is going to be a very good seven.
“It’s really interesting to see where they play their new captain, Ardie Savea, who will be a great leader. So maybe Du’Plessis, they are saying is he just playing one position whereas Segner can play possibly all three. It’s pretty harsh.”
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Kirwan went on to delve further into the back-row debate. “I agree with this hybrid sort of player, but I don’t believe in having hybrids all over the place. I just see Sititi as one of those No.8s that can carry the ball from a scrum… and he just has that little bit more dynamism to his game.
“Ardie is a seven, and he is a seven every day of the week. I like him carrying the ball out a bit wider, but if you do that, if you have two guys that are going to be relatively in the loose, then one of them has got to be really in the dark and dirty, so you need a six that is going to be in the dark and dirty hitting rucks.
“I thought Sam Cane had this incredible ability to understand when he needed to be a tight loose forward and in the last few years of his career, he really did that dirty work, which is not seen by very many people except the squad, and the squad loves those people.
“There is that balance, that hard worker at six that is going to do the dirty work and is also going to be a lineout option, a No8 that is going to be really dynamic and get you over the advantage line and then a seven that is going to be doing all that getting to the breakdown early, being really annoying if you are not quick enough to your support play then he is going to be all over it.
“That’s the balance you are looking for and then the selectors go, ‘Who is the best for that?’ They might go well, Ardie is the best at that at No.8. So Ardie probably can do both those things, and Segner can play both those positions as well.”
