The All Blacks work out together in Mendoza. Video / NZ Rugby
OPINION:
There are fewer clues as to who Ian Foster sees as his shadow top team for the World Cup than might have been expected in the All Blacks side to play the Pumas on Sunday.
A hugely demanding Super Rugby final, injuries and illness have conspired to give thestarting line-up in Mendoza the feel of a selection jigsaw.
Who can be written in for the opening Cup game against France, barring disastrous drops in form?
In Paris, Sam Cane will be captaining the side, and Ardie Savea will be at No 8. Ethan de Groot and Tyrel Lomax will be propping. Aaron Smith will be the halfback, Jordie Barrett the second-five and Rieko Ioane the centre.
Let’s begin at hooker and work back through the line-up.
Codie Taylor, who outplayed Samisoni Taukei’aho in the Super Rugby final in Hamilton, will share hooking duties with Taukei’aho. Dane Coles offers a safer lineout throwing option, but Taukei’aho gives more impact off the bench.
At lock it’d be crazy to go past Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick and Scott Barrett. Whitelock’s playing as well as he ever has, and in the engine room there’s no substitute for players who have been at the coalface many times before.
Blindside flanker? The Pumas test is a big game for Shannon Frizell. Whoever wears the No 6 jersey is walking in the footsteps of a giant in Jerome Kaino. Since Kaino left, nobody can offer quite the brilliance he did. Frizell is a gutsy, honest worker, but right now Luke Jacobson looks like a genuine option too. The big clue will be who gets the position for next week’s test with South Africa at Mt Smart.
First-five looks likely to be, along with fullback, the most fascinating decision.
It would be bizarre if Richie Mo’unga, whose command for the Crusaders has been exceptional, wasn’t allowed to continue shaping the attack in the All Blacks.
The fact he’s one of just four Crusaders in the squad of 23 for the Pumas test suggests how highly he’s rated, but if, as seems likely, he starts in France, where do Damian McKenzie and Beauden Barrett fit into the Cup match-day squad?
If Will Jordan is sadly sidelined by migraine problems, does McKenzie or Barrett start at fullback, with one on the bench?
Barrett is in a position that has some echoes of the calls before the 2015 Cup for Dan Carter to be dropped.
Beauden Barrett, pictured sharing a celebratory moment with Richie Mo'unga, has an unclear role at present in the All Blacks' test line-up. Photo / Photosport
The selectors in 2015 went with Carter on the theory that form is temporary, but class is permanent.
It’s clear that Foster and his coaching team rate Barrett highly, but starting him ahead of McKenzie or Mo’unga in France would be a massive call. The test this weekend may clarify where Barrett should stand in the pecking order at the Cup.
On the wing, Emoni Narawa has a great chance to prove he’s ready for the big show. But, as brilliant as Caleb Clarke can be on attack, it was clear in the trashing the Crusaders gave the Blues in their Super Rugby semifinal that defensively he can struggle with positioning himself.
In the now red-hot contest for selection on the wing he’s probably lagging behind Leicester Fainga’anuku and Mark Telea.
Lock Josh Lord, who makes his second start for the All Blacks in Mendoza, has apparently never lacked determination.
As a 2-year-old, his babysitters in Northampton in England in 2003 were often Wayne and Trish Smith. Josh’s father Matt played for the Northampton team coached by Wayne.
Smith, who may be the most energy-packed man I’ve ever met, still remembers meeting his match trying to get Josh the toddler to go to sleep.
“I thought I’d go and read him a book. He’s sitting up in bed. I said, ‘I’ll read you a book, Josh, just lie down’.
“He sat bolt upright, and said, ‘No.’ I started reading. ‘You can lie down now.’ ‘No.’ Read some more. ‘You getting tired, Josh? You need to start going to sleep, mate. Just lie down and Smithy will keep reading.’ ‘No.’
“Trish says that by the time she walked in, I was asleep on the bed, and Josh was still bolt upright waiting for his parents to get back.”
