All Black Ardie Savea was missed against the Springboks but should get his chance against the Wallabies. Photo / Photosport
All Black Ardie Savea was missed against the Springboks but should get his chance against the Wallabies. Photo / Photosport
COMMENT:
The All Black players who saw their value rise or at least underlined their importance to the team in the drawn test against South Africa were fairly obvious.
There was Beauden Barrett for his general excellence, Jack Goodhue for his running lines and work ethic, Richie Mo'unga for hisgrowing influence on the game, replacement Aaron Smith for the tempo he provided and fellow substitute Dane Coles for his linking play.
And then there was loose forward Ardie Savea, who wasn't involved but who saw his stocks rise anyway because if there was one forward the All Blacks missed from the start against a Boks team who successfully subdued an underdone pack in Wellington – initially, anyway - it was Savea, a player who is becoming increasingly important to this team.
Why? It's the momentum Savea provides with the ball when he has no right to provide it. The special thing about the 25-year-old is that just as he appears to be contained by one or more defenders, he will go an extra couple of metres and that is gold in any test and in particular against a side so successful in dominating the collisions like the Boks did at Westpac Stadium.
Mo'unga, good overall after a couple of charged down attempted clearances, would have looked far better had he received the ball on the front foot a little more against the Boks – and the same would have applied to Goodhue, TJ Perenara, Sonny Bill Williams, Rieko Ioane and Ben Smith. In other words, the whole backline.
All of which is why Savea is likely to start alongside Kieran Read and Sam Cane against the Wallabies in Perth, a game for which turnover expert David Pocock could be available following his long-term calf injury.
Kieran Read and Ardie Savea. Photo / Photosport
The line-up for Optus Stadium will be the first indication of Steve Hansen's top match-day squad (minus Brodie Retallick and Williams) ahead of the World Cup. We've already seen the Mo'unga/Barrett combination, which is a promising work in progress - now for the minor revolution among the loose forwards.
It's obvious the All Blacks want to play an up-tempo game in order to run defences off their feet. Fast ball takes away the effectiveness of rush defences and will make the likes of Mo'unga and Barrett potential nightmares for the opposition to contain.
It's why the selectors want ball-playing front-rowers with implicit game understanding and that method of play is made for Savea, aligned with the physicality of openside Sam Cane and defence and leadership of Kieran Read.
It doesn't matter what numbers those three wear because they could swap roles off scrums, with Read occasionally defending from No 8 and Savea attacking from there. The selection, should it happen, will carry the promise of a high-octane attack with a stay-with-us-if-you-can attitude.
Hansen, constrained by the unavailability of Liam Squire and lack of a blindside flanker who has demanded selection, has hinted the Savea, Read, Cane axis will come. Happy accident or not, it could be a game changer, and a Japan-like hard surface on an early evening in Western Australia is the right time to try it.
Speaking of Williams, the midfielder didn't like a recent Herald story which suggested he was under pressure to perform for Counties-Manukau over the next fortnight before he comes back into the frame for the All Blacks in the return Bledisloe test at Eden Park on August 17.
Fair enough. Let's call it an opportunity then, rather than pressure. What an opportunity he has to make his case to be one of the four midfielders going to Japan.
At his best, Williams is superb, a unique player I'd have in my team. And you can't fault his work ethic because on that basis alone he deserves to go, but the same could be said for Anton Lienert-Brown, Ngani Laumape, Jack Goodhue and Ryan Crotty. One of those four will miss out, but for Williams his destiny in his own hands (injury permitting), and you can't ask for much more than that.
