The All Blacks face a decision on continuing with Tupou Vaa’i at blindside and Billy Proctor in the midfield.
Vaa’i’s role is complicated by Scott Barrett’s injury, with options to keep him at blindside or move him back to lock.
Proctor’s potential requires more test experience, despite some inexperience showing against France, to develop his skills.
Having not necessarily obtained conclusive answers as to whether Tupou Vaa’i is a genuine option at blindside and whether Billy Proctor can deliver his all-court game in the higher intensity world of test rugby, the All Blacks face a stick-or-twist scenario this week in selecting their team.
Willthe coaching panel double down on the two, first-test selections that arguably created the most dramatic sense yet about what type of rugby Scott Robertson’s All Blacks want to play?
Or will they pause the Vaa’i and Proctor projects in pursuit of answers about other possible experiments they may be pondering?
The picture with Vaa’i is slightly changed due to the injury to captain Scott Barrett, which, as assistant Scott Hansen confirmed, has left the coaches working through their replacement plans.
For the second test in Wellington, there is a relatively simple option of elevating Patrick Tuipulotu to the starting team at lock alongside Fabian Holland and retaining Vaa’i at blindside.
The alternative would be to restore Vaa’i to his usual position of lock, pick Samipeni Finau at No 6 and have one of Tuipolutu or Holland start and the other on the bench.
The first option appeals as less disruptive and more productive.
Tuipulotu has the experience and maturity to guide the one-cap Holland through another test, and if the All Blacks coaches are serious about Vaa’i becoming a hybrid tight-loose forward, then the commitment to get him to that point has to be greater than one test.
Throughout the past 20 years, the All Blacks have dabbled in what could be called lock-conversion therapy – periodically they have been taken with the athleticism, mobility and size of various players and tried to develop them into dual options in both the second and back rows of the scrum.
The list includes Troy Flavell, Jackson Hemopo, Scott Barrett and now Vaa’i – while so too at various times were the likes of Reuben Thorne, Steven Luatua, Jerome Kaino and Kieran Read considered loose forwards with the capacity to cover lock.
It’s been an ongoing theme, but the success rate would be considered low, primarily because coaches have only ever dabbled and never properly committed to the concept.
Tupou Vaa'i performed well against France in Dunedin. Photo / Photosport
And if Vaa’i is to become what this coaching panel wants him to be, then he needs to play more than one test at blindside to develop greater affinity for and understanding of the role.
His performance in Dunedin was good enough to suggest he’s worth another look, but not so good as to say he can now be ticked off as a blindside option and put back into cold storage, as it were, by being returned to his first home in the locks.
Presumably the long-term plan is to build Vaa’i to the point where he comes under consideration to start against South Africa later this year as the antidote to the supremely influential Pieter-Steph du Toit.
Ideally, he would then develop through to the World Cup where his versatility could be hugely advantageous in how it would enable the All Blacks to vary their selections and adapt their bench to face different opponents.
His selection fate is also perhaps further compromised by the fact his inexperience at test level was exposed at times in Dunedin, nowhere more noticeable than midway through the first half when French fullback Théo Attissogbe beat him on the outside.
It was a classic case of a player used to Super Rugby Pacific being surprised by the pace of the international game. While some will have interpreted that incident as one to decry Proctor’s ability to play at the highest level, the more astute assessment would be to see it as evidence that he needs more time in the All Blacks No 13 jersey if he’s to learn his craft.
Of all the possibilities the All Blacks have in their midfield repertoire, Proctor remains the player who seems best equipped to deliver the fast, highly skilled rugby Robertson is hoping his team can play.
His distribution is typically sharp. His decision-making is normally astute, and his defence is mostly solid.
But it may take Proctor some time before he’s able to deliver on his potential in the test arena, because centre is an enormously challenging position to learn at that level.
There is a strong case for the All Blacks selectors to stick with Billy Proctor. Photo / SmartFrame
It comes with constant tough decisions to make on both sides of the ball and – much like the Vaa’i conversion project – it’s going to take a deeper investment than one test for Proctor to facilitate the All Blacks’ attack with the same class and precision he does the Hurricanes’.
The argument to double down on Proctor this week is strong as it will be good for his growth. It will also enable Rieko Ioane to have another test on the wing and sharpen his timing and instincts, which were predictably a little off at times in Dunedin as he reacquainted himself with a position in which he hadn’t started a test for four years.
