All Blacks No 15 Jordie Barrett and head coach Ian Foster. Photo / Photosport
All Blacks No 15 Jordie Barrett and head coach Ian Foster. Photo / Photosport
OPINION
It’s World Cup year and right on cue, the All Blacks are threatening to get themselves into a muddle about who to pick at fullback.
The world’s most successful rugby team have been the masters of innovation for the past century but have developed this strange affliction in theprofessional age of refusing to conform in this one specific position.
It’s weirdly fascinating to have seen some of the finest rugby minds the game has known effectively blow themselves up trying to fit square pegs into round holes.
The fascination being that they have ignored the perfectly good round pegs – seemingly convinced that the last thing they should consider if they are serious about winning a World Cup is picking the best fullback at fullback.
This selection Achilles heel has developed in the face of irrefutable evidence that the best plan is to not overthink things or treat each World Cup as an opportunity to redefine the fullback position.
There are a number of commonalities between the All Blacks’ successful World Cup campaigns of 1987, 2011 and 2015, but one sticks out immediately – in each of those campaigns they picked their best fullback at fullback.
In 1987 the All Blacks were able to use John Gallagher’s ability to glide into the backline to great effect.
In 2011 the in-form Israel Dagg gave the All Blacks a counter-attack threat and high ball security and in 2015, Ben Smith roamed freely in the backfield producing all sorts of miracle moments.
Compounding the truth of this simple fact are the catastrophic outcomes that have been produced when the All Blacks have tried to be a little too clever about things.
In 1999, the best fullback New Zealand has produced played at centre in the World Cup. The All Blacks imploded in the semifinal.
In 2007, the All Blacks again played their best fullback at centre and were dumped out in the quarter-final.
In 2019, the All Blacks played, arguably, their best No 10 at fullback and they were knocked out in the semifinal.
It’s grossly simplifying events to say the All Blacks didn’t succeed at those World Cups purely because they got cute with their selections at fullback, or that there was no basis to do what they did.
But with hindsight, these selections have been judged to be more confused than innovative, which is why there is angst about the All Blacks’ decision to not pick Shaun Stevenson in their 36-man Rugby Championship squad (he’s been drafted in as injury cover for Mark Telea).
Chiefs fullback Shaun Stevenson was the in-form No 15 of the Super Rugby Pacific season. Photo / Photosport
Based on Super Rugby form this year, the three best fullbacks would be Stevenson, Will Jordan and Zarn Sullivan – although you could argue that Damian McKenzie could stake a claim to be in the top three given what he delivered whenever he was shifted to the backfield by the Chiefs.
But, best guess is that the All Blacks see their fullback pecking order like this: Beauden Barrett one, Jordie Barrett two, McKenzie three, Jordan four and Stevenson five.
It doesn’t take a massive leap of imagination to understand why they see it like that and why two regular No 10s are so high up the order.
Modern test rugby places different demands on fullbacks than Super Rugby Pacific.
There is a greater element of tactical kicking in the test game and the ability to deal with the high ball and be in possession of a strong kicking game is a higher selection priority than it is in Super Rugby.
The skill-sets of a Super Rugby No 10 and a test fullback are significantly aligned.
But the international game also demands a higher level of physical resilience and defensive bite from its fullbacks, and this is the trump card of the two Barrett brothers – they hold up well in the rough and tumble.
The All Blacks place a greater weighting on the defensive ability of their fullbacks and as Foster made clear, he and his selectors aren’t yet convinced about Stevenson’s readiness to deliver without the ball.
The reluctance to select Jordan at fullback is for much the same reason, but you have to wonder whether the All Blacks are firstly over-egging the importance of defence and secondly, whether the attacking brilliance of Stevenson and Jordan is such that it can outweigh any of their supposed frailties.
After all, Caleb Clarke doesn’t inspire confidence with his defensive alignment or contact work but does appear to have persuaded the selectors that his powerful running more than compensates.
In what is an otherwise almost flawless squad selection by the All Blacks, the non-selection of Stevenson feels like it may just be a recidivist error of unnecessarily complicating something.
There’s a chance for the All Blacks to change their thinking and pick their best attacking fullbacks and rationalise it by saying the opposition might score four tries, but we’ll score five.
