View photosKEY POINTS:
Nick Evans' stated aim is to become the best first five-eighth in the world. It is a little ironic then that he might provide the most value for the All Blacks at fullback.
This morning he showed, admittedly against an over-matched Romania, that he would be more than
a makeweight option at fullback in the knockout rounds if required.
He picked up some scraps and scored a try, threw the last pass for another and made the initial half break that led to the best try of the first half and also pulled off a last-ditch tackle on the half hour to deny Romania a try.
He made a broken-field break that would have resulted in Chris Masoe's second try had not referee Joel Jutge harshly ruled a forward pass.
In short, he was entirely accurate on a day when the All Blacks put in another Curate's Egg performance.
The All Blacks created havoc out wide but struggled to get the ball there because of some inaccurate work at the base of the ruck and scrum.
For the last quarter of the match Evans shifted to his favoured position when Doug Howlett, who went to the back, replaced Luke McAlister.
Evans took over the goalkicking duties and retained his status as New Zealand's most accurate goalkicker at this tournament.
He made his starting debut at fullback against England in 2004 before deciding to concentrate on first five-eighth. However, he played most of last week's test against Scotland at fullback when Leon MacDonald broke down.
Even with Dan Carter's withdrawal from last night's test, Graham Henry resisted the opportunity to slip Evans into the first-receiver role, opting instead to start Luke McAlister there.
It is an indication of two things: Henry obviously has concerns with both MacDonald's and Muliaina's ongoing fitness and needs to give Evans as much time there as possible, and that the selectors believe he adds real value at the back with his sniping runs and prodigious punting.
A permanent move, however, is not in Evans' thinking,
"I like first-five too much," Evans said in the lead-up to last night's test.
"I think I'm kidding myself if I thought I could see a long-term future at fullback but it's another string to my bow. Definitely, long-term, first-five is where I want to play and where I play my best footy."
Short-term though, Evans' path is blocked by Carter. As long as Carter is passed fit, he will play the rest of the tournament in No 10.
If Mils Muliaina is preferred at centre, as some pundits are picking, and MacDonald remains a day-by-day prospect, then Evans could play some of the biggest matches of his life at the back.
"If they [the selectors] came to me and say `we can really see you there' then we'd talk about it but I'm moving up to Auckland as a first-five and I'm really looking forward to that. It would be a really tough decision."
It's tough decisions, too, which will define the selectors' week as they look to find the perfect backline combination for what they hope is the last three weeks of the competition.