Matthew Cooper: At last, the sparkle has returned

By MATTHEW COOPER

Christian Cullen looks more than capable of returning to the position he once held without dispute - that of being the No 1 fullback in this country.

Although there were aspects of New Zealand's win over Italy that should be of some concern to coach John Mitchell and his side, Cullen's sparkle was something we've all longed to see again.

During the Hurricanes' Super 12 campaign, Cullen was actually running some lovely lines but not being delivered the ball. He would be left despondent, hands on head.

Daryl Gibson and Mark Robinson gave him better service on Saturday night.

And some of the things that appeared to go wrong involving Cullen were not his fault. Caleb Ralph overran the ball a couple of times and the players around Cullen have to be able to read what he can do in high-pressure situations.

We are still relying a bit on his history in judging his future. But the signs look good. The pressure is on him but he showed enough, and as everyone knows, Cullen has that x-factor.

Of course the other big issue leading up to the game was how Jonah Lomu would fare. The thing that will have pleased Mitchell and Co was his enthusiasm.

It might well be that these days you start higher work-rate players such as Ralph and use Lomu from the bench.

Gibson was the standout back. His looks like an inspired selection.

Gibson's work on defence, attack and distribution were excellent and means that Mitchell should be confident about the back-up he has for Aaron Mauger, who is still clearly No 1 at second five-eighths.

The area of real concern, though, was Byron Kelleher's slow clearance, which had a big effect on the whole match.

There were an awful lot of rucks and mauls in this game, which meant a lot of work for the halfback, and Kelleher was strangely slow in getting hold of the ball and clearing it.

It's hard to know if it was a fitness issue, but it was quite surprising.

Justin Marshall is particularly good at getting hold of the ball quickly in those situations.

Marty Holah also impressed with his work at the breakdown and some big tackles. With the amount of rucks and the dominance New Zealand had there, he must have been doing some excellent work.

Tactically the All Blacks were trying certain things, not all of which made sense from the sideline. On some occasions they kept moving the ball in a certain direction to the point where they had the whole backline stacked on a short blindside, leaving Ralph miles away on his own.

Against a side like Australia, who might effect a turnover in that situation, it could be dangerous.