Super Rugby Pacific: Five players who will be knocking on the All Blacks’ door

Levi Aumua has a chance to lock down a midfield spot at the Crusaders. Photo / Photosport

All Blacks coach Scott Robertson will be on the hunt for fresh talent when Super Rugby Pacific kicks off next week. Liam Napier selects five prospects who could thrust their names forward this season.

Ruben Love:

Ruben Love is set for an enhanced role with the Hurricanes. Photo / Getty Images

Position: Hurricanes utility

Age: 22

Provided he stays fit, Ruben Love will be knocking on Scott Robertson’s door. One of the most dynamic talents to emerge from New Zealand rugby in recent years, Love missed last year’s Super Rugby Pacific campaign – returning for eight minutes in the Hurricanes’ quarter-final defeat – with a groin tear after playing through the pain in the NPC season with Wellington. Super Rugby and, indeed, the Hurricanes were poorer for his absence. Love is a gifted Manawatū sportsman. He excelled at cricket and rugby at Palmerston North Boys’ High School before shifting to the capital. Cut from the Damian McKenzie cloth, Love is comfortable at first five-eighth or fullback. While he will likely spend time in both roles this season his best avenue, one that suits his instinctive attacking abilities, appears to be fullback. The Hurricanes are expected to favour Brett Cameron’s controlling influence at first five which should allow Love the freedom to cut loose from fullback. It’s there he featured for New Zealand Māori and the All Blacks XV and there he seems best-placed to sell his value to the All Blacks. Love spent a month of pre-season training with renowned sprint coach Roger Fabri in Sydney alongside NRL stars Joseph Sua’ali’i, Jason Saab and Bronson Xerri. Already blessed with rapid acceleration, that stint should leave the 22-year-old primed to impress.

Levi Aumua:

Levi Aumua now of the Crusaders. Photo / Photosport

Position: Crusaders midfield

Age: 29

One of the focal talking points of this season is how Levi Aumua transfers his destructive ball carrying from Super newbies to the defending champions. Aumua encapsulates a sad recruitment reality – that to enhance his All Blacks ambitions, he felt the need to shift from Moana Pasifika to the Crusaders. From an individual standpoint, the move makes perfect sense. Yet Moana losing their premier midfield weapon – as well as powerhouse wing Timoci Tavatavanawai to the Highlanders - does nothing to elevate competitiveness. With Jack Goodhue and Leicester Fainga’anuku moving to France, Aumua appears set to start alongside Tasman teammate David Havili in the Crusaders midfield. To this point in his career, after bouncing between the Chiefs, Blues, Japan and Moana, Aumua relied almost exclusively on power. Ironically, it was his head-turning performance against the Crusaders last year that put Aumua on their radar. By the end of last season, despite playing for a battling team, Aumua had beaten 73 defenders. He turned down the Blues to sign a two-year deal with the Crusaders and now, having now grasped all elements of professionalism to significantly improve his diet, Aumua could realise his dream of representing the All Blacks. While Jordie Barrett, Rieko Ioane and Anton Lienert-Brown have the All Blacks midfield locked down – and Havili, Quinn Tupaea, Billy Proctor offer other options – Aumua’s powerful point of difference could prove compelling, but he must prove his defensive proficiency too.

Pari Pari Parkinson:

Pari Pari Parkinson. Photo / Photosport

Position: Highlanders lock

Age: 27

There’s a sense of now or never for Pari Pari Parkinson. Standing 2.04 metres and weighing over 120kg, Parkinson possesses all the physical attributes to force a bonafide test career in the second row. Until now, though, Parkinson’s form has come in fits and starts. Frequent injury setbacks have blighted his efforts which is in part because he hasn’t always subscribed to the diet and training dedication demanded of fulltime professionals. Every athlete matures at different stages but if Parkinson is ever going to seize his true potential, now is the time. The Highlanders need him to consistently stand up, to bring a commanding physical presence in Shannon Frizell’s absence. Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick’s dual exits leave the test locking stocks thin too. Scott Barrett, Tupou Vaa’i, Josh Lord and Patrick Tuipulotu, once he returns from a broken jaw, lead the All Blacks second-row list and Sam Darry sits on the fringe but Scott Robertson could do with the likes of Parkinson finding form to improve the depth chart.

Stephen Perofeta:

Stephen Perofeta of the Blues on attack against the Force. Photo / Photosport

Position: Blues first five-eighths

Age: 26

A paradox surrounds Stephen Perofeta’s development curve. One the face of it he is locked in a two-horse-race with Damian McKenzie to replace Richie Mo’unga as the All Blacks playmaker. While this season presents a path for Perofeta to press his case with the Blues, Beauden Barrett’s mid-year return from Japan will inevitably complicate the picture. Perofeta can, temporarily at least, emerge from Barrett’s shadow - and utilise the wisdom he passed on – to run the cutter for the Blues. Perofeta is a silky, classy operator. His propensity to regularly challenge the line, offload and create for those around him are hugely underrated by many – as is his ice-cool goal-kicking. Perofeta has, in recent years, matured to fully embrace the responsibility attached to the team controller. His cameos for the All Blacks in 2022, before being squeezed out by McKenzie’s return, grossly undersell his capabilities. With a 50-second debut against the Pumas in Christchurch, one start at fullback in Japan and a one-minute cameo against Scotland in Edinburgh, Perofeta was never trusted by the All Blacks in his natural positional home. With the playmaker role at the Blues clear for this season, Perofeta seems set to show everyone just how good he can be.

Cortez Ratima:

Cortez Ratima. Photo / Photosport

Position: Chiefs halfback

Age: 22

Much of the focus on New Zealand’s new halfback era, following Aaron Smith’s test retirement, has centred on Cam Roigard, the seeming heir apparent, and his battle with TJ Perenara at the Hurricanes. Others, though, also have claims too. Finlay Christie and Folau Fakatava have both earned test caps - Christie surprisingly preferred over Roigard off the bench for the World Cup semifinal and final. Talented 20-year-old Noah Hotham is the future for the Crusaders at nine after his running game was evident last season. And then there’s Cortez Ratima. Brad Weber’s departure to France opens the door for Ratima, once he recovers from a high ankle sprain that has stunted his pre-season involvement, to further enhance his impression. Ratima will compete with Xavier Roe and former All Black Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi for the vacant starting halfback role at the Chiefs, but if he can regain the dynamic running threat and support play he showcased last season, Ratima should have ample time to further his case. Playing inside Damian McKenzie won’t hurt, either.