Sam Cane, Kieran Read and Ardie Savea. Photos / Getty Images
Sam Cane, Kieran Read and Ardie Savea. Photos / Getty Images
COMMENT:
In 2017 former All Blacks prop Wyatt Crockett delivered the greatest single piece of coaching advice on record.
After seeing his Crusaders teammates string about 400 phases together in the last minute of their clash with the Highlanders without going anywhere, he screamed at first-five Mitch Hunt to "justeffing do something".
Hunt, inspired by the simplicity of this plea, banged over a 45-metre drop goal to win the game and in a strange way validate Crockett's one-line genius which was borne from the knowledge that rugby needn't be seen as an overly complicated, technical business.
It's a story that comes to mind ahead of the All Blacks sending a new loose trio into battle this weekend which will see Kieran Read, Ardie Savea and Sam Cane indulge in an element of role swapping that may not sit within the traditional expectations of the positions they are supposedly playing.
With Cane and Savea both natural fetchers and none of the three boasting any significant test experience in the traditional blindside role, it's easy enough to get caught up wondering how the three will balance their tasks to ensure the All Blacks are well served in the key chores of winning, protecting, stealing and using the ball.
The Crusaders swamp Mitch Hunt after his winning drop goal against the Highlanders in 2017. Photo / Photosport
But rather than let the brain start running away with itself on this issue, getting tangled in job-specific knots, it is best to recall that sage advice of Crockett's and imagine that it is largely what All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has said to all three, but stressed in particular to Savea.
Savea is not the sort of footballer who would benefit from an overly prescriptive job brief.
The number on his back should not be a point of fixation as in the last 18 months he has shown himself to be imminently capable of doing everything and anything on the extended list of general loose forward chores.
He can be whatever he wants to be as he's a ridiculously gifted athlete and increasingly brilliant rugby player.
He can do it all and he is the Beauden Barrett of the forward pack – an instinctive and natural footballer who has built such a vast range of skills that it seems reductive to send him into battle with anything other than the words of Crockett ringing in his ears.
Let the man follow his instincts and do what he does as when he's uninhibited, the results have been spectacular.
For all the planning and preparation that goes into a test these days, it doesn't change the fact that most games play out at such a frantic pace that the majority of the big decisions and key plays are made instinctively.
Ardie Savea avoids a tackle by Nicolas Sanchez in the match against Argentina. Photo / Getty Images
Savea has been so effective because he sees an opportunity and takes it. He hasn't stopped to wonder whether it is his job to forage for that critical turnover or ask himself what he should do if the ball ends up in his hands.
He's been refreshingly fluent and natural and never lost sight of the fact that when it comes down to it, rugby's best loose forwards have never been hung up on the specifics of their position but focused entirely on the generic.
Zinzan Brooke didn't fret about whether he conformed to the expectations of a classic No 8, while Michael Jones wrote himself into history on the back of his extraordinary ability to pass, run and tackle.
And Savea is much the same – a hybrid loose forward with the all-round skill to be influential.
He's pass and catch, he's rough and tumble. He's a classic No 7 over the ball yet a corner flagging No 8. He can run like a wing, tackle with venom and yet make inspired decisions about how to use the ball.
That's why the All Blacks want him on the field and they are not going to be so daft as to burden him with a highly specific set of tasks to which he must restrict himself.
They will trust him to play what he sees and to also trust that Cane and Read will to some extent provide the platform from which Savea can roam free.
Rugby needn't be so complicated as to lose sight of the fact that the best players are those who get their hands on the ball and just effing do something.
