Dylan Cleaver: Faster-paced game clearly new to SBW

Sonny Bill Williams of the All Blacks during a training session in Chicago. Photo / Getty Images

It seems likely Sonny Bill Williams will get his first start for the All Blacks since 2012 on Sunday at Soldier Field. It seems almost as likely that the most famous three initials in New Zealand rugby will take time to find his feet.

The All Blacks trained yesterday at Toyota Stadium, the home of Major League Soccer team the Chicago Fire. It was pretty clear, even to untrained eyes, that Williams was a shade off the pace.

He looks as physically imposing as ever, but yesterday his passes were missing more targets than they were hitting.

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It is perhaps not surprising. For all their similarities, league and rugby are different games. The contact area is different and the lines of attack more varied.

But there is another, more fundamental, reason why it might take SBW a few games before he is seamlessly reintegrated into the All Blacks: his name is Aaron Smith.

The little halfback has changed the way the All Blacks play. The speed at which he gets from breakdown to breakdown, and the speed that he clears the ball combined with the length of his pass, has enabled the All Blacks to play with unrivalled tempo.

Smith has fast become a phenomenon and the fact he has turned what was thought of as a 50 to 60-minute position into an 80-minute job only adds to his lustre.

Smith has set the tempo, the rest of the team has followed. Williams probably feels, as he gets used to the Steve Hansen playbook, that the game is being played on fast forward.

Problem is, there's no pause button.

Another All Black needing to get up to speed quickly was captain Richie McCaw.

He took centrestage on the ice at the United Center, having the opportunity to shoot goals in between the second and third periods of yesterday's Chicago Blackhawks-Anaheim Ducks NHL match.

McCaw, dressed in a custom No 7 Blackhawks jersey, didn't do too badly, narrowly missing on three occasions in front of 21,000 fans.

McCaw was one of a number of All Blacks who attended the match and they were introduced to the crowd.

In what is hoped is not an omen, the Ducks won 1-0, due in large part to a horror mistake made by Blackhawks' No 7 Brent Seabrook.