Ngani Laumape is a bowling ball on legs. Photo / Photosport
All Black trial games have gone the way of encyclopedias. Selectors don't make snap decisions about players on the evidence of one match, they gather details from prolonged inspections and discussions about potential.
Those verdicts were revealed this week as the squad gathered for a camp in Auckland to measure up their All Blacks uniforms and begin work around the three-test series against France.
It must be one of the stranger weeks in the congested rugby calendar as, jobs done, they swap pride in that international recognition for a mate-against-mate rivalry tonight in Christchurch when the Crusaders host the Hurricanes.
The buildup has been fractured for this key game in the NZ conference with both teams restricted in their concentrated preparation. All Blacks on both sides are sidelined because of injury and suspension but a dozen current choices are left to shape up for a duel which will have a major impact on the race to the playoffs.
The Crusaders have lost a quartet of All Blacks choices from their pack but will look to that group to provide some dominance against the visitors. If they don't grab that authority and possession is shared the Hurricanes have the inventive strike power across their backline to deliver plenty of pain tonight.
Forecasting games is a fraught proposition. The potential for a mishap is always present with a referee's decision, an injury, the weather, a freak move or a blunder all hovering over the action. Picking the All Blacks to win their tests is hovering around the 90 per cent success mark but this match is much more of a toss-up.
However, if there's one place the Hurricanes can look to create maximum havoc they'll settle on midfield and one of their former team-mates Tim Bateman who is in the red and black uniform he first wore a decade ago. Bateman is a reliable rugby player with a similar style to the injured Ryan Crotty who brings the leadership between the new All Blacks talent of Richie Mounga and Jack Goodhue.
All that experience will be needed if Beauden Barrett, Ngani Laumape and Jordie Barrett get enough ball to work their moves from set-piece and phase play. Laumape is the biggest threat, a bowling ball on legs, an explosive package of damage whose low centre of gravity, powerful hips and fend make a mess of any inaccurate defender.
Trawling back through games this year, it would be hard to find many times when he did not make the advantage line with his bullocking charges and clever footwork.
He is as lethal as fellow All Black Sonny Bill Williams who makes his moves with passes over the top or around the corner of defenders, while Laumape has developed his offload and makes a doormat of any untidy tacklers.
The Crusaders' plan to subdue Laumape will be fascinating. Do they let their defensive line drift and ask Mounga and the loose forwards to nail him or do they ask Goodhue to jam in from the outside with his bigger physique and float their other defenders? Perhaps they'll continue as they've done most of the season and trust everyone to do the job they normally do.
Any marked change from the Canes is unlikely. They've won 10 games on the trot including a win against the Crusaders at the Cake Tin and in that sequence have gained even more. They've hung tough and battled through several games where they lost their shape but found a way to the podium.
Referee Angus Gardner, the TMO or wintry conditions may become a factor but the best part will be watching how a large batch of All Blacks go about their business. Large tranches of the competition have lacked appeal but after the All Blacks boost, the players will be pumped for a showdown which shapes as a mini-final between the two best sides in the series.