Underneath all that, there has been a constant murmur about the comparative quality of some of the new players coming through to top level now – maybe symptomatic of a game losing potential talents because of its physical and defence-dominated nature.
Those covering the sport have written volumes about the dangers of professionalising schools rugby, and the dilution of club and provincial rugby (where late developers were often found). There's also been player, media and fan discomfort at the evolution of the game into a sport dominated by large, fast and muscular athletes designed to win collisions – discouraging others who might, in earlier years, have stayed with the game and come through the ranks.
The old adage that rugby is a game for all shapes and sizes is on the way to obsolescence and, to add to matters, there is still a steady flow to overseas clubs of "second-stringers" – players who didn't make it to the All Blacks. For some reason, Bundee Aki and James Lowe come to mind; Aki played a fine hand for Ireland against the All Blacks; his homeland could use his midfield services right now. Aki never made it to the under-20s.
Maybe that is one explanation for Foster's reluctance so far to give many of the new players consistent game time leading up to the World Cup. If so, it's a pretty troubling mindset and you'd have to say Hansen has a point about NZR.
In 2018 and 2019, the under-20s finished fourth and seventh respectively (the world championship tournament wasn't held in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic). The latter was New Zealand's worst result, including a 24-0 loss to Australia.
2019 coach Craig Philpott told media the northern hemisphere teams were better prepared: "…we are playing against teams who are generally better conditioned athletes. They've been in full-time professional programmes, in some cases, for up to three years. Our guys at best are often one year, so there is often a physical strength conditioning difference, but we've just got to adapt our game at this level and still keep what's special about New Zealand rugby."
The class of 2020 and 2021 didn't have the chance to test themselves against the best from the north – and you wonder what that might mean for coming All Blacks squad selections. There are cycles in sport and some years and some teams are quite simply not as good as previously. But our "pathway" boys haven't hit the mark lately while all the aforementioned other problems still apply. If the answer is to accelerate and apply professional programmes even younger, or for more time, how might that exacerbate those other issues?
The squads for both 2018 and 2019 under-20s included 10-12 names each who have become Super Rugby regulars. From the fourth-placed 2018 team, only three have graduated to the All Blacks and maybe only one can be called first-tier so far: Caleb Clarke, Hoskins Sotutu and Leicester Fainga'anuku. From the 2019 squad, Cullen Grace, Quinn Tupaea, Tupou Vaa'i and Fletcher Newell have become All Blacks, the latter yet to play a match.
That's probably as it should be – not everyone can be an All Black, obviously. However, scroll through under-20 squads from 2008 on (when the world championship started) and there are a vast number of unfamiliar names. What happened to them and their rugby careers?
Clearly, the supply line and the assembly line need attention if the All Blacks machine is to rev back up to its high-performance best – and maybe the Foster era needs to be viewed, at least a little, in that light.
