Phil Gifford: The daring All Blacks selection set to answer their biggest question

Quinn Tupaea was one of the All Blacks' standout performers against Italy. Photo / Getty

OPINION:

All Black selections are usually very conservative.

You could never say that about the team named to play France in Paris.

There are risks here on a number of fronts. If they pay off the 12 weeks the All Blacks have been away from home will be remembered as largely a successful campaign. If not it'll be a pretty ugly summer.

Injury has forced some of the changes, but Quinn Tupaea at second-five ahead of David Havili is a form call, and a daring one. Tupaea's been a potential star of the future from the time he was spotted at Southwell intermediate school by his future Hamilton Boys' High first XV coach, Nigel Hotham.

"I looked along the line, and there were basically these little, thin, short boys, and then there's Quinn Tupaea, who looked like a teacher sitting in a Southwell uniform."

Tupaea was so big as a teenager Hotham had to resist the temptation to move him into the forwards, and while now, at 97kg, he's not a giant at international level, his robustness and strength will be needed against a powerful, enterprising French midfield.

Quinn Tupaea was one of the All Blacks' standout performers against Italy. Photo / Getty

Just as important will be Tupaea's temperament, which so far looks impressive. In that messy game with Italy he was one of the few who was tidy and consistent. In fact since his first game for the All Blacks, against Tonga at the start of July, he's never overplayed his hand, attending to the basics with precision, and choosing the right time to attempt solo breaks.

If he has a good night in Paris he could be the answer to the question that's been nagging the All Blacks since Ma'a Nonu left the team in 2015. It took time for everyone to get on board but by the time of the 2011 and 2015 World Cups Nonu had become the best All Black second-five of the last 50 years. The downside to his brilliance was that the standard he set for the next men in the 12 jersey was ridiculously high.

Talking of all time greats, Aaron Smith may have only had three games for Manawatu in recent times, but he's such a dynamo, it'd be a major surprise if he didn't make a seamless return to test rugby.

He'll turn 33 on Sunday, but his speed, both on the run and when passing, is undiminished. The battle between him and the hugely gifted French halfback and captain, Antoine Dupont, has already been billed in France as a match-up to decide who is the best halfback in the world, and that's a fair summation.

Aaron Smith has spent plenty of time on the sidelines recently. Photo / Getty

Smith was called to Europe because of injury concerns with Brad Weber. If Smith stars and the All Blacks win it'll be the best replacement decision since the remarkable 1992 call up of Andy Earl during the All Blacks' tour of Australia and South Africa.

That was the year of the big snow in Canterbury. Loose forward Earl's rough and ready appearance belied the man's intelligence, but did give some hint of how much courage and commitment he brought to the table.

New coach Laurie Mains found himself with an injury crisis in the loose forwards with the second test in Brisbane about to be played.

He rang Earl at his Rotherham farm in North Canterbury. We want you to come to Brisbane to play in the test, said Mains, then you can get back home. "It's your call," said Earl. "But if I don't go on to South Africa I won't go. You have to decide whether you want me or not."

Mains, not a man used to being questioned over his decisions, asked how fit Earl was. Had he been playing? Yes, Earl replied, he had. Unspoken was that, well, he would have been playing, except for the snow, during which he had worked for weeks with others in the area to help save stock.

Earl flew to Brisbane, and on a steamy, sweaty Sunday by sheer force of will was one of the better All Black players, making a covering tackle late in the game to save a try. How tired was he at the end?

"My backside was hanging round my ankles by the time I came off," he said. "Perhaps I shouldn't have played it, but there were test matches I thought I should have played that I didn't, so to me I was just getting one back."