Chris Rattue: Talent factory keeps churning them out

Jimmy Cowan of the Highlanders feeds the backline from the ruck during the match against the Bulls. Photo / Getty Images

The All Blacks will win the World Cup that doesn't matter, hands down.

They will have the most exciting squad for the 2011 tournament, but whether they win the contest that does matter is a completely different story, of course.

The latest round of Super 15 matches highlighted the remarkable talent which keeps emerging from New Zealand rugby.

This extended to the Waratahs, whose recruit out of Auckland, wing Afa Pakalani, skipped through the Crusaders defence at Nelson with barely a hand laid on him.

Not that being spoilt for choice always leads to the right choices.

What was the Blues coach Pat Lam thinking when he left Rene Ranger on the bench in Johannesburg? How could rugby tactics have reached such a complicated point that the nearest thing to the new Rupeni Caucaunibuca doesn't get an 80-minute chance to dance around Ellis Park?

The so-called Lam masterplan, of hitting the limp Lions late, paid dividends, but only just.

Ranger is too good to be left on almost any bench, and definitely the one belonging to the Blues.

Outside backs don't need resting three games into a competition. If Ranger - who scored a double in half an hour - had been on for the whole match, the Blues' job would have been easier.

Serious quibbles aside, you could only marvel at the New Zealand rugby factory as the Crusaders' loose forwards belted the Waratahs into submission, the Highlanders' shoestring put the boot into the double champion Bulls in Pretoria, and the big boppers in the Blues backs had enough good moments to down the Ellis Park pussies. And what Australia wouldn't give to have All Black front row rejects like Jamie Mackintosh and Wyatt Crockett on board.

The Waratahs arrived in Nelson with plenty of wind in their sails and, as per usual, it turned out to be hot air. Unfortunately for the 'Tahs, their chief sledgehammer, test hooker Tatafu Polata-Nau, hobbled out of the game early.

Polata-Nau is a massive unit, although he almost looks too big for his own good. The power hooker should be the key tonic for the weakling Wallaby pack at the World Cup, but unfortunately for Robbie Deans Polata-Nau might be injury prone.

The Crusaders, mustering all their strength in heartbreaking times, beat the Waratahs by beating them up in the middle stanza of the match. They crushed the Waratahs' scrum and spirit when it mattered.

Robbie Fruean has to be in the World Cup frame. Alongside him, Sonny Bill Williams is unstoppable when his team is on the front foot, although awkward in neutral or reverse.

Williams was less than a stunning advertisement for C-grade boxing careers as rugby training devices. Williams may be lighter on the feet, to his mind, but he initially passed as if he still had boxing gloves on.

Fruean is not only a midfield monster but has a deft touch, going on his twirling intercept try against the Waratahs. Compared to the current selectors' almost deliberately dubious All Black picks such as David Hill and Ben Smith, Fruean should have been a stone cold certainty for last year's All Black end-of-year tour.

Tana Umaga looked more than half decent, and certainly not half-paced, for the Chiefs. Waiting in the wings is the Wellington up-and-comer Junior Savea, and we've got Hosea Gear to look forward to. Isaia Toeava is firing for the Blues, and even Joe Rokocoko had his moments in Jo'burg.

These are all big men who run like the wind, can tiptoe when they need to, and have, in the main, freaky handling skills.

As a kid, many of us marvelled - or make that hero-worshipped - the at-the-time unrivalled power of Bryan Williams, the forefather of what has become standard issue in New Zealand rugby.

Clips of the teenaged Williams bouncing on the hard grounds of South Africa in 1970 still make exhilarating viewing, accompanied by a mystique that will never be recaptured now that television coverage from South Africa is commonplace.

Williams was the first of the Polynesian superstars.

The game has advanced in leaps and bounds, although none as magical as the Williams sidestep.

The evolutionary point hasn't been reached in the Blues however when the power of Rene Ranger isn't required from the kickoff.

QUAKE WILL TAKE TOLL

With the best will in the world, I can't see the Crusaders lifting this year's Super 15 title.

Even as we all basked in the temporary glow of their win over the Waratahs, another major aftershock hit Christchurch.

Having to use home fields away from home, the effects of continual travel, the gnawing stress - ultimately this will take a toll. If any team can do it, then the Crusaders are your men. Despite not having won the title since 2008, they would have started this season as widespread favourites. But the hurdles will prove too much even for them to overcome. They were magnificent on Friday night, and their mid-match excellence would have been too much for any other team in the competition. But they also looked drained and disoriented for parts of the game. Given that the Crusaders provide the heart of the All Black squad, you also wonder what effect this may have on the World Cup campaign.

THE COACH WHO GOT AWAY

Jamie Joseph is working miracles at the Highlanders. Joseph is already shaping as the coach who got away for the Hurricanes.

WEEKEND WINNER

The Highlanders - ended the Bulls' long winning streak at home.

WHAT TO WATCH

Hopefully, signs of significant life from the New Zealand cricketers against Pakistan tomorrow night.