'100 cap All Black': Leading midfield candidates putting pressure on Razor

people forget quinn was injured by darcy swain and it wass his injury that made jordie a number 12 for the allblacks rather than a 11 14 or 15 i would prefer the havili at manapacifica over the one at the crusaders at the moment proter isnt playing and sure brown is playing well havent seen much of mcloud at the crusaders umunga jenson is playing quite well also

My midfield rundown from another post

impossible amount of midfield combos the ABs could have, Lam at the Blues has been used in both positions with great success, SR and NZ, last year. Tupaea is on fire at the Chiefs with ALB, Poihipi is perhaps the smartest and most skillful 12 in the country last year, Rona his partner has all the nouse of a center in the mold of Conrad, Higgins might still come back and light up the comp with his audacity, along with Proctors athletic ability, and in the Sth Isl Dallas should overtake Havili and hopefully Ennor’s class will return to pressure Aumua, but the biggest wildcards are Timoci and Tele’a with the Landers. You also still have the Umaga-Jensen boys with a lot of class and potential to click, the two Sullivan boys getting opportunities, the next group of age grade reps, and ofcourse, the two incumbents to consider somewhere.

My money is on an ALB and Rieko midfield for France, with the Difference on the bench.

If last year’s selection conservatism (bar an injury occurring) is anything to go by, then neither will make the squad, or they won’t see any real game time if they do.

Rieko should be dropped altogether, and Jordie would be an ideal 23 with the positions he covers. The Jordie-Rieko axis just does not work.

Havili isn’t a center . He still trying to find he’s place. He hasn’t put on any good performance just too many errors.

AB’s midfield choices based on form so far this year in no particular order:

Jordie

Tavatavanawai

Tupaea

ALB

Rieko should be gone and unfortunately Proctor is injured long term.

TT played at 13 with Tasman. He has enough speed and good hands to play in this position. Moreover, he is an excellent defender. A 12 can play 13.

Jordie/Rieko clearly didn’t work well last season.

There wasn’t a strong enough anchor at first receiver, and the distribution, especially from Rieko, was honestly poor. Balls were pushed to the wings too quickly without creating space…

Razor needs to open his eyes to his midfield, which could be much better, really much better… We talk a lot about Tavatavanawai and Tupaea, rightly so. He would bring a much higher dimension on both sides of the ball than the current two centers. And let’s not forget Fainga’anuku, who is coming back from France and is performing excellently at the second center position.

This All Blacks team, if properly assembled, could be lethal. It’s up to Razor to make the right choices.

Tavatavanawhai, Tupaea, AJ Lam, and Peter Umaga-Jensen are big physical 12s all playing very well so far but no standout 13s yet where All Blacks MUST replace Ioane who still cannot distribute under pressure after five full seasons of specializing at 13.

And I am not a Reiko hater. I thought he was going to crush the All Black try scoring record and become its greatest winger ever back in 2019. Then foolishly he was moved to 13 despite no loss of speed at all and has become an average 13.

Lots of players looking good at 12 so far for NZ Super Rugby franchises but in my opinion it is 13 which the All Blacks desperately need new specialists to emerge and replace Ioane and put pressure on Proctor who looked great vs Fiji and a defensive liability vs Japan.

Two things:

1. It’s Week 3, lol. Super Rugby players should be evaluated when the pressure is on in May and June, not February.

2. I like both players a lot but they are both 12s, not 13s. And it’s simply not the same position- Nonu was a terrible 13 and Conrad Smith could never have played 12. ALB is a good test 12 but useless at 13. Tupaea and Timoci are both 12s and should be selected to play 12 or not selected at all. We also need two specialist 13s to emerge to replace Ioane and Proctor (who could not defend to save his life vs Japan)

There are several extremely promising players coming through. Exciting to imagine a backline where every player contributes and there is also depth in every position.

Neither plays for Canterbury, unlike David Havili. (ALB also).

It isn’t quite yet the business end of the Super season, when we tend to find out more about leading candidates for higher honours, but the AB selectors absolutely ought to be paying attention to form.

The midfield has been an area with some contention over the last year or so. Seeing players like Tavatavanawhai, Tupaea (and ALB too!) make statement performances are just that.