Ian Foster names team to face Argentina Video / Geroge Heard
Newstalk ZB's lead rugby voice Elliott Smith takes a look at the hot topics in the game right now.
A suggestion...
Are we seeing a wee bit of a ruthless edge develop in the All Blacks?
Nepo Laulala and Ofa Tuungafasi being told to remain with their NPC sides ratherthan jump straight back into the All Blacks post-return suggests they're not as integral to the fold as they once were, even compared to last month, with the four props at Ellis Park all acquitting themselves well and getting another run around this week. Tuungafasi's utility value appeals and will likely come again, but Laulala might need to find an extra gear if he's to return to the black jersey for the Bledisloe Cup and beyond.
Ofa Tuungafasi (left) and Nepo Laulala (right) have been told to stay with their provinces. Photos / Getty
Stay with me here, but the appointment of Michael Cheika as Argentina coach could be a masterstroke. I was tasked with following the non-All Blacks storylines of the 2015 Rugby World Cup in the UK and ended up at plenty of Cheika's media conferences. He rubbed up Kiwi fans a lot that tournament but I found him a fascinating character for his honesty and straight-forward approach, but also love for the game.
Cheika refused to buy into any All Blacks mythology and when it was twigged that he hadn't called them by that moniker in the week leading up to the final he offered an impersonation of being inhibited by a poltergeist when he was teased into saying All Blacks at a media conference. He cut a similarly relaxed figure in the Christchurch hotel cafe that was turned into a media conference room yesterday morning, a few years removed from his last visit to these shores where he always got a tough time. Rugby needs more characters like Michael Cheika.
An explanation...
Michael Cheika walks past the Webb Ellis Cup after his Wallaby side were beaten in the 2015 Rugby World Cup final by the All Blacks. Photo / Photosport
More importantly though, after taking over that Wallabies team in 2014, he got them humming all the way to the final (albeit with a lucky quarter-final escape). It was perhaps the last time the Wallabies were really a cohesive unit and at World Rugby's top table.
Cheika's tenure unravelled by 2019, but for that World Cup, after winning an abbreviated Rugby Championship, they knocked over hosts England and Wales in pool play and found their groove in a tournament campaign.
Given a short and sharp brief through to next year's World Cup in France, Cheika may be just the jolt to turn Argentina's sublime generation of individual players into a team of believers that could go deep in 2023. Recent evidence, dispatching a woeful Wallabies side a fortnight ago, points to the fact that the Pumas might be on the rise.
It defies belief that in the dead of a Christchurch winter, Saturday's All Blacks game is being played at 7:45pm due to Australia's desire to play their game against the Springboks in Adelaide in mid-afternoon. How the Aussies – who claim they are not treated well by New Zealand Rugby - have got away with that is bizarre.
A question (and an answer)...
Why isn't the test a sellout? The stadium is about eight years past its use-by date and most Cantabrians have given up going. Feel free to refer back to this answer and maybe the suggestion above when the question inevitably comes up on Saturday night.
