Premium Debate: Analysing the All Blacks squad as Rugby World Cup nears

The All Blacks haka. Photo / Photosport

In Tuesday’s New Zealand Herald Premium Debate, Editor at Large Shayne Currie was joined by rugby writers Liam Napier and Gregor Paul, and Black Ferns Sevens star Michaela Blyde. Our expert panel addressed some of the big questions 74 days out from the tournament opener, including who they believe will win the tournament and how they think the All Blacks will perform.

The panel, which aired live earlier today on the Herald website, discussed the All Blacks squad selection as well as Ian Foster’s “hugely difficult tenure”.

When it comes to who will emerge victorious at the end of the Rugby World Cup, Liam Napier believes the French team have what it takes to win the tournament, whereas Gregor Paul had a different theory: “The team I kind of like the look of, bizarrely, is New Zealand because they’ve been pretty awful up until this point... they’re coming in under the radar a wee bit,” he said.

Blyde too remains hopeful that the All Blacks will put on their best show in France. “The All Blacks have won away from home before, they can do it again. A very, very tough task for [the All Blacks] to get into the final,” she said.

In case you missed it, you can watch the full Premium debate below:

The expert panel also discussed the selection debate surrounding the All Blacks squad.

“The back three in particular is very contestable. Mark Telea will lock down one wing, the other wing is very much up for grabs,” Napier said.

Blythe believes that “Ethan de Groot has changed the whole dynamic of what it means to be a prop” while Gregor Paul pointed out that “where the All Blacks have been quite weak is with their ball-carrying”.

Napier also stated that All Blacks coach Ian Foster has had a “hugely difficult tenure”.

“He’ll be very determined to prove a lot of people wrong, but there’s also an argument that the pressure is off to a certain extent. There’s no real jeopardy in the sense of Ian Foster having to fight for his job in this tournament - whatever happens, he’s finishing up,” he said.

Earlier today it was revealed that Anton Lienert-Brown will miss the first two All Blacks tests of the year after being suspended for his dangerous tackle in the Super Rugby Pacific final.

The Sanzaar foul play review committee handed Lienert-Brown a three-week suspension on Tuesday for his tackle on Crusaders wing Dallas McLeod in Saturday’s decider in Hamilton.

Lienert-Brown was fortunate to escape with a yellow card at the time, with Sanzaar later determining the incident met the red card threshold. McLeod eventually left the field and failed his head injury assessment (HIA) as a result of the head clash.

At this stage Lienert-Brown is suspended through to July 29, which rules him out of the All Blacks tests against Argentina in Mendoza, the Springboks at Mt Smart Stadium and the opening Bledisloe Cup assignment at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.