Tele’a’s move to Toyota Verblitz was met with indifference, despite his strong performance history.
There are concerns that New Zealand may underestimate Tele’a’s value and overestimate emerging wings’ readiness for test rugby.
The moment of madness by Mark Tele’a that saw him pick up a red card in Brisbane for committing a tip tackle will fuel the prevailing view that the Blues wing is increasingly looking like yesterday’s man and won’t be missed when heheads to Japan later this year.
Commentators, reporters, pundits, opinion writers and fans looked at Tele’a’s age (28), the massive pay increase he will enjoy in Japan, the security of a three-year contract, and the up-and-coming cohort of younger wings emerging in Super Rugby, and said it was a smart move for the Blues “veteran” to get out now while his market value was so high.
There’s a relatively long history that says wings in New Zealand peak at 27 and don’t offer much after that age. There is also a deep-rooted conviction that there is a factory of outside backs, constantly spitting out test-class wings who can start the season as Super Rugby nobodies and end it as international superstars.
There’s a bit of truth to both these firmly held views, but only a bit, and the broader response to Tele’a’s impending departure was missing an element of nuanced analysis and lacked a realistic appraisal of New Zealand’s current talent pool.
Age is not a metric that can be applied universally, as if it affects all players the same way at the same time.
Tele’a, who will turn 29 in December, is not a player whose game is built on his out-and-out speed.
Mark Tele'a on the break for the All Blacks last year. Photo / Photosport
He’s all about work-rate, explosive strength, anticipation and an uncanny ability to finish from short distances against multiple defenders.
Tele’a comes off his wing to pick and drive with the forwards, he’s an astute reader of the backfield and able to break tackles from deep when he counterattacks. Notwithstanding the one poor decision in Brisbane last Friday – when he made a technical error in lifting Tim Ryan’s leg and then past the horizontal in what otherwise would have been a sensational tackle – he’s a much improved defender.
And because of the way he plays, the Blues wanted to keep Tele’a for a further four years, believing he would, or at least could, be the same player at 32 as he is at 28.
The argument could be pushed further to say Tele’a could be a better player at 32 than he is at 28, because he seems durable, is growing critical parts of his game such as his ability to retrieve contestable kicks, and because it’s an out-dated fallacy that all players discernibly lose pace in their early 30s.
Tele’a, by any objective assessment based on the All Blacks’ needs in their back three and the skill-sets wings required in test rugby, could be a core part of the 2027 World Cup squad if he had chosen to stay in New Zealand.
This narrative that he’s about to blow up and hit some kind of imaginary wall is a genuine misread of what Tele’a offers and how his skill set is future-proofed against any potential (mythical) slowdown that may result as he gets older.
But equally, this unseemly rush to write him off and talk about the emerging generation, rattling off the likes of Caleb Tangitau, Leroy Carter and Macca Springer as potential All Blacks, is a touch premature and potentially an overly generous assessment of their ability.
All three are talented, just as Chay Fihaki is, but there is an under-appreciated truth in New Zealand that the skill demands of wings in Super Rugby are not necessarily the same as they are in the test arena.
In the international game, there are more high kicks to catch and chase, more strategic decisions to be made about how to cover the backfield and the role demands a high degree of patience as opportunities may rarely come but have to be taken when they do.
New Zealanders seem to hold this idea that they constantly produce high-calibre wings who effortlessly jump from Super Rugby to the All Blacks, but the likes of Nehe Milner-Skudder, Waisake Naholo, George Bridge and even Sevu Reece, who came from nowhere to the All Blacks, didn’t last or build long and memorable test legacies.
All of them, for different reasons, found it hard to become regular selections, and never quite looked the same players for the All Blacks as they did in Super Rugby.
Emoni Narawa, who was red hot for the Chiefs in 2023, is another who looked great at Super Rugby but hasn’t so far managed to deliver much in the test arena – a summary that could just as easily be attributed to the returning Leicester Fainga’anuku.
Tele’a, who has shown across three seasons now, and against multiple opponents, that he can be a high-value operator for the All Blacks, is perhaps going to be missed more acutely than was being portrayed last week.
