The quest for consistency is a common theme that bonds Billy Proctor and the All Blacks this week.
Collectively, Scott Robertson’s All Blacks must deliver successive victories against the world champion Springboks in Wellington to break their patchy form trend.
Personally, Proctor is striving to continually elevate his influence amid a sustained show of faith.
Proctor will savour his seventh start of the year for the All Blacks at centre this weekend after missing only the third test against France in July when Robertson, with the series secured, made a raft of changes.
Such a run signals the belief the All Blacks have in Proctor’s abilities after pushing Rieko Ioane out to the wing at the start of the season.
This year’s promotion paints a stark contrast to Proctor’s debut test campaign when he largely sat idle with two fleeting appearances.
“It’s nice getting a bit of consistency,” Proctor tells the Herald. “You’re able to find your feet a bit more, you get used to certain things, and what other people are doing.
“Getting out and actually playing and getting live reps is different to the training field. I’m relishing it.”
Proctor has been New Zealand’s form centre for at least two years with the Hurricanes. While his role with the All Blacks doesn’t drastically change, test rugby is a different beast.
“Everything is a touch quicker, more physical. Everything is a step up. Getting used to that, especially playing against the South Africans, they back themselves with the line speed, so you don’t have as much time.
“The big difference from Super Rugby is how much teams use the air with contestable kicks, so I’ve been adjusting to what we need to do to counter those areas.
“You still try to have impacts on certain parts of the game, and there’s other times you’re trying to set others up and do what’s best for the team. It’s similar to the system we run in the Hurricanes.”
Proctor emerged from well-known Wellington rugby stock, which marks his second home test, with 10-month-old daughter Nyla among the crowd, another to savour.
“She’ll be at the game. Maybe a late-arvo nap so she can make it through.”
Proctor’s father Phil Proctor paved the way as a tough tighthead prop who represented the Junior All Blacks in 1984 and played 66 games across a decade for Wellington before coaching Petone, Western Suburbs and Oriental-Rongotai to Jubilee Cup titles – and guiding his three boys, Billy, Matt and James, in the St Pat’s Town First XV.
Billy, the youngest sibling, learned his defensive strengths from Matt, who played one test in 2018.
In recent years, Proctor’s distribution and attacking game, the footwork and fend he honed with former All Blacks wing turned Hurricanes assistant coach Cory Jane, has come to the fore.
With the All Blacks backline struggling to fire thus far this year, though, Proctor’s attacking talent has been largely subdued.
“I try and have all the tricks to the trade. But I’m trying to grind at things where I think I can be better – but also doubling down on my strengths, making sure not to lose that because that’s a big part of why I’m here.
“It’s a balance I’ll look at each week to see where I can put a bit of extra time into, and sometimes that changes depending on who we’re playing and what skill sets are needed, but still trying to keep my strengths at the forefront. It’s been going pretty good.”
While Leicester Fainga’anuku’s powerhouse presence lurks in the wings after his return from France, the All Blacks are clearly keen to allow Jordie Barrett and Proctor time to rekindle their Hurricanes partnership and imprint their complementary combination on the test scene.
“It’s been awesome to play with him again. He’s one helluva player. It was only a couple of games before he came back to what he likes to do and his tendencies. I’ve enjoyed being out there with him. He’s got all the skills, he’s not afraid of the big collisions and he’s great in the air.”
After a traditionally conservative approach in their defeat at Eden Park, Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus turned heads by ushering in seven starting changes to embrace a youthful backline stacked with threats.
If the revamped Boks adopt more ambition and risk, it could help ignite the All Blacks’ attack.
“With all the changes, there’s definitely a chance they’re going to throw the ball around a bit more and have a go. There’s a lot of talented boys in there.
“We’re expecting them to have crack, but we know they’re just as capable of going to the air as they did last week. Whatever they throw at us, we have to be ready.
“The more they play, the more pressure we can put them under, and vice versa: there’s opportunities if they’re kicking to us as well.”
As they seek to deliver back-to-back performances for the first time this year – after their 1-1 Argentina tour and patchy form against the vastly understrength French – the All Blacks acknowledged the need to rise again after coming down from last week’s emotive high.
“Last week, there was no need to gee us up because we knew what was at stake – Springboks coming in, Eden Park, Ardie’s 100th, a performance we weren’t proud of two weeks before.
“This week we acknowledged we need to reset. South Africa will be hurting and it’s on us to get ourselves up for it so we deliver another performance that’s acceptable.
“We believe in ourselves. We think we have all the tools and everything we need to put out wins and be dominant. It’s the consistency we’re striving for.”
Liam Napier is a senior sports journalist and rugby correspondent for the New Zealand Herald. He is a co-host of the Rugby Direct podcast.