All Blacks Ryan Crotty and TJ Perenara, during the All Blacks team training session, held at the NZ Warriors training ground at Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland. Photo / Brett Phibbs.
All Blacks Ryan Crotty and TJ Perenara, during the All Blacks team training session, held at the NZ Warriors training ground at Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland. Photo / Brett Phibbs.
Having been passed fit, Ryan Crotty will now almost certainly start in the All Blacks midfield this weekend against France. But as to which position he'll be in and who will be alongside him, that still remains educated guesswork.
If Sonny Bill Williams hadn't suffered a knee injury last week,there would have been no mystery. Williams at second-five and Crotty at centre - that would have been the All Blacks' midfield selection and it wouldn't have taken them overly long to make it either.
But no Williams means a host of permutations are now possible because Crotty has a genuine capacity to play in either midfield berth.
Since making his debut in 2013, Crotty has split his test career between second-five and centre. When he's been partnered with Williams, as happened in nine tests last year, he's played exclusively at centre.
But in 2016 Crotty formed a brief but encouraging combination with Anton Lienert-Brown, with the latter at centre.
All Blacks outside backs Rieko Ioane and Nehe Milner-Skudder during the All Blacks team training session, held at the NZ Warriors training ground at Mt Smart Stadium. Photo / Brett Phibbs.
Given those two have test history playing with one another and are the two most experienced midfielders in the squad, there is a solid argument to be made they should be the starting combination to play France at Eden Park.
There is, however, an equally good argument that says if Crotty is almost certain to return to centre once Williams recovers - at the end of the month - then the better long-term option is to keep him at No 13 in June and promote the hard-running, specialist No 12 Ngani Laumape.
The Hurricanes second-five has been in bruising form in Super Rugby and in one aspect - he takes the line on in with a direct running game and looks to offload out of contact - is a similar player to Williams.
A Laumape-Crotty combination seems to make as much sense as a Crotty-Lienert-Brown combination, but assistant coach Ian Foster wasn't providing any clues as to which way the selectors are thinking.
"Not really," Foster said when asked if there was a view about which of the two roles Crotty was better suited to.
"I think we probably play a game where they can interchange. If you ask him he is probably erring towards No 12 I think because he gets in pretty well in the first receiver role and our 12 does that a little bit more for us. Whenever he is 13 it is just a matter of rearranging a couple of things so it is not too hard.
"We have got a whole lot of different types of midfielders and I like that because I think you need that.
"But the things that are non-negotiable about the midfield regardless of your skill-set, you have got to be a great communicator, you have good to run good lines, you have to be able to throw short passes and wide passes under pressure and I guess add to that, some of the kicking options.
"If you look at Ryan he ticks most of those boxes and his ability to run nice lines is one of his biggest strengths so if you get those things right and make good decisions at the end of it then you don't always have to be the fastest or strongest. He is calm but he works his butt off to get into the right position to be able to see what he needs to see."
Whichever combination is selected, the key challenge will be to deliver an attacking game that breaks one of the best defensive sides in the world game.
The French conceded the least tries in the Six Nations and had the highest successful tackle rate and it is apparent that new coach Jacques Brunel made it his first priority when he was installed earlier this year, to focus on defence.
Foster, though, suggested that the French focus may change slightly in New Zealand.
"Under a new coaching regime in the Six Nations they started with one part of their game which was the defensive side," said Foster.
"They got a lot right and so with their selections I'm guessing the next part of their plan is other part of their game - which is the attack side and we are going to have to go in with our eyes open."
