Rugby: Hika Elliot could yet fill a void at hooker

Hika Elliot may emerge as the best candidate to back up fellow hookers Dane Coles and Keven Mealamu at the World Cup. Photo / Getty Images

The tricky role of back-up hooker is the one area that the All Blacks don’t have covered ahead of this year’s World Cup.

The problem with World Cups is that it is often the little, seemingly innocuous things that can sink a campaign.

The All Blacks will arrive in England later this year with all the power and presence of the Death Star and appear to be equally invulnerable.

Finding weakness isn't easy. The All Blacks can scrum these days, unlike in 1999 and 2003 when they didn't have the technical ability or desire to crush sides in that area.

They have a vastly improved lineout that, through the leadership of Sam Whitelock and Kieran Read, has become adept at not only winning their own ball, but attacking opponents effectively, too.

Aaron Smith's speed of delivery, combined with the decision-making of Daniel Carter, Colin Slade or Beauden Barrett, enables the talents of Ma'a Nonu, Sonny Bill Williams, Julian Savea, Ben Smith and Conrad Smith to be fully expressed.

It's an All Blacks side with the lot: grunt, aggression, speed, power and play-making innovation.

But there might be one place where they can be hurt, where they don't have impregnable armour. It's not obvious yet who will be their third hooker and, while it may seem needlessly panicky to worry about the identity of what will be squad member 31, fate has the ability at World Cups to present teams with their worst-case scenarios.

The All Blacks, of all teams, know this better than most. They have been there — more than once. The unthinkable easily becomes the thinkable and the prospect of the All Blacks becoming heavily reliant on their third hooker at the World Cup isn't even that unlikely.

The value to the All Blacks of having Keven Mealamu in the match-day squad is almost beyond measure. The younger, more dynamic Dane Coles can thunder about for 60 minutes, blunt even the sharpest opposition, and empty his tank in the knowledge that the safest pair of hands in world rugby will close out proceedings.

Mealamu is priceless but he's also, despite being one of the toughest men in world rugby, vulnerable to injury. All players his age are and his calf has been especially problematic.

If it pings in England and he can't play, all of a sudden squad member 31 becomes super-important. Of all the options, there isn't necessarily one who has been regularly exposed to international football.

To whom the All Blacks will turn is a guess because each contender is a gamble of sorts. Nathan Harris had emerged by the end of last year as the winner of hooker idol — the apprenticeship scheme the All Blacks ran from mid-2013 to fast-track someone younger to the cusp of selection.

Dynamic and powerful in the ball carry with the mobility to befit someone who played loose forward until his late teens, Harris also impressed the All Blacks coaching panel with his maturity, work ethic and desire.

But just as his time had come, he damaged a knee in Chicago and that was him. He's had surgery and isn't too far from making a return but he hasn't got long to find some form.

If it was Mealamu coming back with only a few weeks to prove himself, it wouldn't be such a risk.

Harris, though, doesn't have that longevity to breed confidence and an undercooked new boy carries heavy risk. But he's the one the selectors have in mind at the moment.

Of the other apprentices, Rhys Marshall has barely been sighted and Liam Coltman hasn't delivered on the early promise he showed.

James Parsons was called up to play Scotland last year and dug in and gave all he has like the honest professional he is.

Motu Matu'u probably would have been called up instead of Parsons had he not been injured. The Hurricanes hooker comes with explosive tackling power but he'd give more than a few people sleepless nights with the accuracy of his throwing. Taking an uncapped player with questionable core skills probably isn't a great idea.

So to whom can the All Blacks turn? It's Harris the selectors want but his Chiefs team-mate Hika Elliot could be a better option. He's played test football and is seasoned and tough — having fought his way back from serious neck surgery last year.

At 115kg, he's got the size and necessary mongrel and there's no dispute with his throwing or scrummaging. The issue with Elliot is that he hasn't endeared himself to a few of the All Blacks leaders and management.

He's admitted to alcohol and related behavioural issues and, while the All Blacks are all about helping team-mates through troubled times, a World Cup isn't the right place for therapy and counselling sessions.

The added danger is that, as the third hooker, Elliot may not play much, if at all. It's not an easy job to be cannon fodder at training for seven weeks and selflessly support the cause when it feels like you may not be a full part of the cause.

Life would be easier if Corey Flynn was still in New Zealand. The ABs would pick him and be done with it.