A lot goes on behind the scenes for reporters covering the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The NZ Herald and Beyond the Game's Cheree Kinnear gives a sneak peek into life on tour. Video / NZ Herald / Getty Images
OPINION
It’s unlikely that Scott Robertson - who, among other things, has been in the UK on a fact-finding mission to discover more about some of the All Blacks’ opponents this year saw anything from England at Murrayfield that will be preventing him from getting a goodnight’s sleep.
The All Blacks’ first opponents of the year were a mix of confusion, awful execution and bad ideas in Edinburgh. While Scotland, who New Zealand don’t play this year, were equally poor at times, they did at least produce superbly clinical moments which enabled flying wing Duhan van der Merwe to collect a remarkable hat-trick.
The speed and power of the 1.93m, 106kg van der Merwe was a strong reminder of the value international teams can gain from having a wing who is effectively a human fridge with a V8 engine.
His performance served as a reminder that New Zealand, the original creators of the power wing concept, haven’t had a truly destructive No 11 for some time and that finding one may sit somewhere near the top of Robertson’s to-do list.
As van der Merwe demonstrated, a genuinely powerful, oversized wing with high-end acceleration remains a potent weapon in the defensively-minded international game.
There is so much precision within defensive systems now and so many technically proficient tacklers, but as van der Merwe demonstrated, if big men are able to get up a head of steam, their physical advantages can make them just about unstoppable.
Scotland Duhan van der Merwe has provided a timely reminder of just how valuable a power wing can be. Photo / Photosport
New Zealanders know this to be true as they saw the likes of Va’aiga Tuigamala, Jonah Lomu, Joe Rokocoko and Julian Savea prove it time and again over the last 30 years or so.
Three of those four sit high on the all-time try-scoring list and it’s not a statistical quirk that two of Lomu’s teammates, Jeff Wilson and Christian Cullen, were also prolific try-scorers as one of the byproducts of having such a danger on the left wing, is it forces defences to overload their right edge and create space elsewhere.
The All Blacks haven’t had a genuine big, unstoppable left wing since Savea was in his prime between 2012 and 2016.
Waisake Naholo never really fulfilled the brief and while Mark Tele’a has been a sensational discovery and plays with a dynamism well above his 99kg, he’s not the same sort of power athlete as Lomu or Savea.
He relies on footwork and evasion as much as he does his surprising ability to wriggle out of tackles, but he’s not in the oversized class or the sort of athlete who becomes almost impossible to bring down if they are in full flight.
That New Zealand hasn’t produced a genuine, world-class power wing in the Savea mould since 2016 is not for want of trying or for a lack of appetite to have such a player in the All Blacks’ mix.
It’s more a reflection of how the game has changed in nature, to require wings to be multi-skilled in their ability to catch high balls, kick long out of defence, be nimble on the turn and cover a huge amount of ground.
Caleb Clarke could become an attacking weapon for the All Blacks. Photo / Photosport
It’s hard to find athletes in the supersized category who can do all they need to in the modern game.
Typically, their size comes with a sacrifice in their agility and few of the great power wings of the last 20 years have had any kind of kicking game in their repertoire.
But seeing van der Merwe destroy England in his one-man show, just hours after the first round of Super Rugby Pacific was completed, sparked an inevitable thought about whether 2024 will see Caleb Clarke rediscover his power running and high-impact game?
Clarke is the only wing in New Zealand with the size, power and speed to destroy defences - which he most certainly did in his rookie test season in 2020.
His arrival in the international arena was of sufficient impact as to have media labelling him the next Lomu after he had several moments against Australia at Eden Park where he bounced through tackles and left Wallabies splattered all over the place.
The comparisons with Lomu were premature, however, as Clarke hasn’t been able to consistently produce those high-impact, carnage-inducing passages when he’s had the ball and he’s certainly struggled to make his presence felt as a defender.
But Clarke has turned up in 2024 7kg lighter and highly motivated to improve his workrate, be more involved and leave a mark in each game he plays.
And if he can do what he says he’s hoping to do, then New Zealand may well have their own version of van der Merwe and the sort of weapon they haven’t had at their disposal for the better part of 10 years.
