Sam Cane will miss this weekend's test against the Wallabies at Eden Park. Photo / Photosport
Sam Cane will miss this weekend's test against the Wallabies at Eden Park. Photo / Photosport
OPINION:
The All Blacks have picked a team they hope will deliver a collective victory at Eden Park this Saturday, but it is one that will certainly produce individual winners.
Injury and a concern that the team may be lacking energy at this late stage of the Rugby Championship hasseen the All Blacks selectors provide a handful of individuals with precisely the specific opportunities they have craved.
Jordie Barrett, having stated his desire to play at second-five, is finally being given the opportunity to start a test there.
He's played fullback, wing and first-five for the All Blacks but it is the No 12 jersey that he covets: that's the role in which he would cast himself if it were up to him as it's the position for which he says he has the most affinity.
And there will be a significant lobby equally supportive of the positional switch as it does feel that Barrett, in his 44 tests, hasn't yet found his natural home.
He's had good tests at fullback and some memorable moments as a wing, but the youngest Barrett brother in the squad hasn't regularly wielded the sort of influence his overall skillset suggests he could and it may be because he hasn't yet been played in the position which best suits his abilities.
Jordie Barrett will start at second five-eighth against Australia this weekend. Photo / Photosport
Equally, his brother Beauden has the chance to come away from Eden Park as one of the major winners of this backline reshuffle.
Despite having played a significant number of tests at fullback, Beauden has never hidden from the fact he sees himself as a No 10.
Having spent his first four years with the All Blacks mostly coming off the bench with a brief to impose himself from the backfield, he was desperate following the retirement of Daniel Carter in 2015 to reinvent himself as a world-class first-five and become the chief playmaker for the national team.
For three years, he did exactly that, until a desire to operate with twin playmakers at the 2019 World Cup saw him picked again at fullback.
There was an undeniable sense he didn't love being at fullback in 2019, something he all but confirmed with his eagerness to speak publicly in 2020 and 2021 about his desire to re-establish himself as a No 10.
But perhaps given the claustrophobic nature of test rugby and the success rush defences have enjoyed in closing down the space of creative types, Barrett may now be more at peace with the idea of playing fullback and more importantly, it could be the position from which he's better able to remind the world of his phenomenal attacking ability.
Beauden Barrett returns to the starting fullback role this weekend. Photo / Photosport
But strangely, the biggest winner this weekend may be someone not playing, and that is captain Sam Cane.
The skipper has accumulated a truculent army of critics in 2022, who have been ever-willing to scrutinise his every performance, finding fault and deficiency in almost everything he has done.
This army will no doubt be viewing Cane's absence as an opportunity for the All Blacks new-look back row to play well enough to force a permanent rethink about the best combination.
But history has shown that it is all too easy to misunderstand what it takes to play openside in test football and to under appreciate the value of a fearless, seasoned warrior.
It's a position that takes years to master and the primary skill which sits at the heart of any great test openside is physical imposition.
It's easy to forget now given his performances, but Ardie Savea couldn't impose himself as a young openside back in 2016 and 2017.
He had his champions calling for him to start ahead of Cane, but Savea didn't have the size, mentality or combination of the two to knock big men off the ball back then.
And there were signs of history repeating last week in Melbourne after Cane was forced off with a head injury early in the game.
Dalton Papali'i replaced him and like Savea back in 2016, he's had a legion of fans pushing for his All Blacks inclusion based on what he delivered in Super Rugby.
Cometh the hour, though, Papali'i didn't bring anywhere near the same physical presence and the All Blacks missed Cane's defensive crunch and his strength at the collision point. The Aucklander is undoubtedly the better athlete, quicker around the field with the pace to act as a ball carrier in the wider channels.
But he's got a lot of ground to make up on Cane as a defender, as a cleanout operator and as a player who simply makes the opposition a little wary about what might be coming at them.
It's certainly a little ironic that by not playing, Cane is likely to do more to silence his critics than if he were, but that's often the way with great players - their true value is best appreciated when they are no longer there.
