All Black Wing Julian Savea during the All Blacks' opening test against Wales. Photo / Greg Bowker
Julian Savea was pulled three minutes into the second half against Wales so does he get another chance in Wellington? Chris Rattue and Wynne Gray name their preferred back three for the Wellington test.
CHRIS RATTUE
Fullback: Beauden Barrett
Barrett can only be bench-bound for so long when others aren't doing
the business. Julian "Slowcoach" Savea was hopeless in the first test and even Waisake Naholo made a host of errors although he worked hard to balance the ledger. Barrett is primarily known as a starting No. 10, but he has fullback pedigree. He made one fine tackle at Eden Park, and is likely a better defender than Israel Dagg. Barrett is a counter attack genius - so why limit his impact? This is the perfect series to give him the chance to become a regular starter. He deserves no less. The fact is, Barrett isn't always a super sub - in some games he has little impact - so his talents do get wasted. The All Blacks want to up the ante, and this is an obvious way to do it.
Wing: Ben Smith
If Barrett goes to fullback, then Smith to the wing is a gimme - this doesn't need explaining. It will give the All Blacks a contrasting style of wings, a formula which has worked very well for them. It also builds more versatility into the side.
Wing: Waisake Naholo
Naholo had a poor World Cup on limited opportunities and a bad first test test at Eden Park in many respects: dropped ball, hesitancy, naive defence and a half-hearted chase on a Welsh try. He also got in the way of Smith when the fullback was trying to take an early bomb and wasn't always aware of what was going on around him. But Naholo did look for work, unlike "Slowcoach", and boy did he make an impact now and then. He is the power wing of the future - at some point the training wheels will fall off and the All Blacks will have a world beater.
