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'Josh Lord, Wallace Sititi, and Cortez Ratima combined have played seven'
By Ben Smith
The difference in experience in key positions across the two benches has come under the microscope after the All Blacks opening round loss to Argentina in the Rugby Championship.
Los Pumas had veteran hooker Agustin Creevy, who played a pivotal role down the stretch, as well as veteran lock Tomas Lavanini in their reserves.
La Rochelle prop Joel Sclavi and Gloucester prop Mayco Vivas brought more power off the bench up front, which helped turn the tables on the All Blacks scrum in the final quarter.
Ex-All Black wing Jeff Wilson highlighted the differences in experience across the two teams which counted down the stretch.
"And you mentioned Agustin Creevy and what they brought off the bench, Tomas Lavanini as well," Wilson said on The Breakdown.
"You're talking about hundreds of Test matches, right? Let's have a look at what the All Blacks brought off the bench in terms of experience and critical moments to combat that.
"You got Asafo Aumua, who's played nine. You've got Fletcher Newell, who's played 16. Josh Lord, Wallace Sititi, and Cortez Ratima combined have played seven.
"So your guys talking about guys in critical roles and critical positions, executing line outs, executing work at the breakdown, and Wallace Sititi responsible for the last penalty in regards to not releasing, and Cortes Ratima, who in his third Test match, is probably in one of the most critical decision making positions.
"So you start thinking about selection, and you know, we made it different. We made some changes in terms of combinations."
Wilson questioned the number of coaches that the All Blacks currently have involved in selection.
He indicated that the selection jobs have become increasingly narrow with coaches allocated certain positions to select each week.
"I want to bring this up like, the one thing that's clearly different about what the All Blacks are doing, and it's not about the players," he said.
"They've got a huge number of coaches who have got huge responsibilities in terms of selection. And when you start thinking about that, that's different.
"I'm not sure we've seen that from another team where they've been assigned positions.
"There's a huge number of coaches, and they've got an area they have to focus on, and is the danger there?"
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Latest Comments
Nah hes a journeyman. Right call
Go to commentsAgreed for the most part. And perhaps Dmac needed a period were he is the 'Hobson's choice' too.
Yes and no, they main concern I had from the situation is Razor didn't really explain why they had developed differing opinions, had he? I've seen too many things happen in life to jump the gun. Fall all we know it was a locked in choice before they found the difference last year and played out this year to see if they were recoverable. I can certainly see where it would be a valid criticism to suggest he spent too much time reviewing his players tripping overseas and not enough work with his team at that time. But things like Tony Brown not even being contacted in the lead up to the naming of the squad are endemic in the union, and for much just as much blame should be laid on someone like Wayne Smith. Some like Mitch would have been aval at the same time too I'd think.
Ultimately I see MacDs time at the Blues much as I saw Ian Fosters time at the Chiefs. Heavily overshadowed by their successors but you could find something good in there if you wanted. Same here. This will play out.
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