The likes of Brodie Retallick haven't reached their world-class best yet for the All Blacks. Photo / Getty
The likes of Brodie Retallick haven't reached their world-class best yet for the All Blacks. Photo / Getty
OPINION:
Australia may not bust any myths during Sunday's test in Perth, but they have managed to correct one misconception in the 48 hours before it.
The Wallabies have picked a team that kills stone dead the fabled nonsense that they don't have the same quality of players as theAll Blacks.
And by extension it rubbishes the baffling arrogance that persists in New Zealand which makes so many believe that the All Blacks always have better players at their disposal than every other nation.
For the last two decades there has been a running joke that Mickey Mouse could coach the All Blacks to victory: the Aussies push it to needle the Kiwis and to justify their lack of Bledisloe success, but so many New Zealanders subscribe to the same school of thought for reasons that are often hard to guess, other than wondering whether some aren't either just a touch deluded or afflicted by a superiority complex that blinds them to reason.
New Zealand produces plenty of good players, but it irritates the rest of the rugby world that Kiwis assume the All Blacks are favourites in every game.
The All Blacks do indeed head into Sunday's clash against the Wallabies as favourites but that does not of itself confirm any argument that they do so because their players are simply inherently better.
The question to ask is how many of the All Blacks team would make a World XV?
With Aaron Smith not available, the answer is probably zero. Brodie Retallick at his best would be a must pick for a World XV, as would Beauden Barrett.
Neither, though, having spent the early part of this season in Japan, are quite back at their best. Ardie Savea would be a contender at openside as Rieko Ioane would be on the left wing, but there is not a single player in this weekend's All Blacks team who would be a unanimous, non-negotiable selection in a composite team featuring the best in the world.
The likes of Brodie Retallick haven't reached their world-class best yet for the All Blacks. Photo / Getty
Australia, on the other hand, have two players in Marika Koroibete and Taniela Tupou who would be hard-to-impossible to leave out of a World XV right now. Samu Kerevi would be a possible selection at No 12 with Wallaby captain Michael Hooper a strong contender at openside.
Give Wallabies halfback Tate McDermott a few more years of test football and he will be pushing hard for inclusion too, and while this is entirely subjective, there is enough contrary evidence to be sure that the All Blacks shouldn't be talking to Disney just yet to line up their next coach.
There have been periods in the last 20 years when the All Blacks have had a ridiculous number of players who would cruise into a World XV.
The team that won the 2015 World Cup would be the best example. Of that team, at that time, Dane Coles, Owen Franks, Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick, Jerome Kaino, Richie McCaw, Kieran Read, Smith, Daniel Carter, Julian Savea, Ma'a Nonu, Conrad Smith and Ben Smith would have been picked in a World XV by any half-knowledgeable rugby fan. Beauden Barrett and Sonny Bill Williams, who were used off the bench during that tournament, would also have been strong contenders.
But that team was most definitely the exception not the norm. It's rare, possibly unprecedented in history, for so much talent to mature and combine like that.
This All Blacks side gets nowhere close in terms of individual talent.
Head coach Ian Foster is working with a group that has four or five players who meet the criteria to be considered world-class – but not necessarily be considered the global best in their respective positions.
There are two world-class players – Joe Moody and Sam Cane - to be welcomed back from long-term injury and there are two or three such as Will Jordan, David Havili and Akira Ioane who could develop into world-class players.
But comparing the two teams that will meet in Perth – it is the Wallabies who have the real stars.
