Tighthead prop Owen Franks has made giant strides in the All Black number three shirt. Photo / Sarah Ivey
Nominations for New Zealand's rugby player of the year will draw strong approval from those who wore jerseys embroidered with single digits.
Acclaim will be even greater from red-and-black stalwarts and former forwards when they gaze at the list of Kieran Read, Richie McCaw and Brad Thorn.
All three had
terrific seasons for the Crusaders and All Blacks with Read, to these eyes, the best by a narrow margin.
However, some may be muttering about the omission of another Cantab.
Tighthead prop Owen Franks is not 23 until next month but already he seems to have settled into the vacancy left by Carl Hayman's globetrotting search for his farm deposit.
Franks' progress has been swift since a Super rugby and test debut last season. He gets his 22nd All Black cap tomorrow in Cardiff.
Franks has been nurtured carefully by national team scrum coach Mike Cron, a man with lengthy experience in the front row arts.
Cron has tried to keep a gentle handbrake on Franks, but the test tyro has kept on busting the restraints.
He has worked into automatic selection in the No 3 jersey and overtaken Greg Somerville, John Afoa and Neemia Tialata who have been used since Hayman's departure.
These days with the law tweaks, sides using the ball more and referees favouring the advantage laws, there feels like a reduction in the number of scrums.
But they remain a crucial component in top-class rugby, a cornerstone of a strong side. Just ask the Wallabies what they would give for a bloke of Franks' ability.
He had a great tussle with the monstrous Andy Sheridan in the Twickenham test and has been powerful in his other outings. When he is replaced, the scrum does not have the same sting.
And around the field, Franks is a beauty. His handling is improving, his aerobic capacity seems vast, he cleans rucks and mauls powerfully and packs an outrageous wallop in his tackles.
It is a lofty assessment to say he has replaced Carl Hayman but there is no doubt Franks has filled that void.
All the more reason why he should have made the player of the year list next month.
