Robertson’s loose forwards are failing to impress
While many barbs have been aimed at the likes of TJ Perenara, Damian McKenzie, Ardie Savea and Sevu Reece, the big question from the All Blacks’ loss to Argentina is: why is our loose forward unit looking so uninspiring?
Savea can be exempted, even though he got in the way of the halfback to make the first of two wonky passes that effectively lost the test. He was the only one of the loose forward trio who made ground against the Pumas’ defence, even if it wasn’t one of his top-drawer performances.
It’s about now that the decision to leave Hoskins Sotutu out of the Rugby Championship squad looks odd. Ethan Blackadder always impresses with his energy and courage but he simply hasn’t yet brought the defence-stretching crunch and punch the All Blacks want from a No 6 and he fell off a tackle in the direct buildup to the matchwinning try.
Blackadder, to be fair, was good in the lineout, accentuating the need for a tall No 6 or No 8 as an extra target. However, he hasn’t convinced in general play — and neither did Samipeni Finau against England when he had a quiet test, most unlike his Super Rugby Pacific form.
Dalton Papalii played well enough — he makes a ton of tackles and was one of the few to challenge the Pumas’ superiority in the breakdowns — but that work costs him in terms of energy and direction; he was ineffective going forward, a criticism previously also levelled at the man he has succeeded, Sam Cane.
So there we are — years later and the All Blacks have still not adequately replaced Jerome Kaino and Liam Squire at 6. There are some super prospects — like the exciting Wallace Sititi, even if he did give away the penalty that wrapped the game up for the Pumas.
The squad contains muchdecorated loose forwards like Luke Jacobson, who possesses rock-hard shoulders, a clattering tackle and a good nose for grubbing possession from the breakdowns. Again, however, he doesn’t bring as much as Savea on attack and, by any objective measure, you’d have to say our loose forwards are on the short side in international terms.
And, please, can anyone tell me . . . why is Cane there again? Yes, 95 test matches, one of the bravest souls to pull on a black jersey and undoubtedly adding value to this All Blacks transition — but surely that spot is better used, at this stage in a four-year World Cup cycle, to find new members of the loose forward fraternity who can do the job Kaino and Squire did.
Much of what went wrong against the Pumas can be fixed with a bit of focus, time and practice: receiving kickoffs, exits from the 22, kicking from hand, throwing to the lineout — but the make-up of the loose forwards and the starting halfback are structural choices that affect the running of the machine.
Perenara’s selection — after all the praise heaped on Cortez Ratima and Noah Hotham in this year’s first three tests — smelled strongly of the old warrior given a home test.
That decision, and the sentimentality which seemed to underpin it, played a major role in that defeat, in my view. And what’s this business about the legions of assistant coaches being the ones who do the selecting from their various areas of influence — Jason Ryan (forwards), Scott Hansen (defence), Jason Holland (backs) and Leon McDonald (attack)?
Former All Black and TV pundit Jeff Wilson alluded to this on The Breakdown this week, suggesting they were allocated certain positions to select each week: “the one thing that’s clearly different about what the All Blacks are doing . . . they’ve got a huge number of coaches who have got huge responsibilities in terms of selection and . . . I’m not sure we’ve seen that from another team where they’ve been assigned positions”.
“There’s a huge number of coaches, and they’ve got an area they have to focus on, and is the danger there?” Wilson asked.
It’s a fair question — it’s the All Blacks, not a jigsaw puzzle.
As for mental strength, I’d say nothing benefits that as much as running through a few Pumas and Springboks and making good lineout takes. Head coach Scott Robertson must assume priority in this one.