Gregor Paul: All Blacks coach Ian Foster's inevitable management problem

COMMENT:

At some point in this World Cup cycle New Zealand's embarrassment of playing riches is going to present a management problem for Ian Foster and his All Blacks coaching staff.

In announcing his first All Blacks squad last week he said it had been a difficult group to put together given the number of players who had made a case for inclusion.

The second part is undoubtedly true, the first not so much. It wouldn't have been a fun job telling the likes of Angus Ta'avao and Liam Coltman that they hadn't made the cut, but it wasn't hard to make that decision given the former barely played Super Rugby due to injury and the latter was strangely quiet and inaccurate in his limited game time.

If Ngani Laumape had been available then perhaps a genuinely tough call would have had to have been made, but more likely the squad would have been expanded to 36 players to ensure that everyone who deserved to be named made it.

Peering into rugby's future at the moment is difficult given the uncertainty of the Covid-19 landscape, but for the foreseeable at least, it's going to be an era of running with enlarged squads.

Practically it makes sense to do so, particularly and mostly because of quarantine requirements.

But there's an element of false contentment that is projected by larger squads as inevitably there will be those who come to feel disenfranchised and unsatisfied by their peripheral and largely non-playing status.

There was relief and elation aplenty on Sunday when the squad was named, but in a year or so, that will have dissipated when the reality of test match selection kicks in and Foster and his team really do have endless tough calls to make.

Rieko Ioane of the Blues celebrates after scoring a try during the round 3 Super Rugby Aotearoa match between the Blues and the Highlanders at Eden Park. Photo / Photosport.co.nz

That pressure is going to be most keenly felt among the backs because it's not going to be possible to provide all those picked with the volume of game time they will need to feel it's worth hanging around in New Zealand for through to 2023.

And that's what this first All Blacks squad of 2020 really is – the beginning of a journey towards France 2023.

Test coaches have to have one foot in the now, another in the future and the first year of a World Cup cycle always has a heavy emphasis on the latter.

This is typically, at least when normal circumstances prevail, the year to unearth the next generation, the Sam Cane, Brodie Retallick, Beauden Barrett types who are going to be integral to the team not just in the current cycle but also the next.

It's also the time to signal to those previously on the edges – the likes of Jordie Barrett, Akira Ioane, Brad Weber, Tyrel Lomax and Dalton Papalii – that they have the chance to establish themselves as regulars.

There's an enviable depth of resource right now, but just watch, in 2022 there will be a few big names, great players, heading for Japan or Europe.

Who knows what sort of deals will be available for top foreign talent in those parts of the world, but by then, even with the ravages of Covid-19 relatively fresh, it's likely there will still be comfortingly large piles of cash available to assuage the damaged egos of those unable to secure the starting All Blacks place they coveted.

And it will be big names who are going to want to leave given the enormous range of talent Foster is going to have to juggle.

Just look at the back three, where he's going to have to pick three from Beauden Barrett, Jordie Barrett, Damian McKenzie, Rieko Ioane, George Bridge, Sevu Reece, Will Jordan and Caleb Clarke.

All Blacks left wing George Bridge setting up Aaron Smith's 2nd try in the Rugby World Cup quarter final match at Tokyo Stadium, Japan. Rugby World Cup 2019. Photo / Mark Mitchell.

So maybe he can jiggle things around, slot Beauden Barrett in at No 10, Ioane at centre, but that only shifts the problem to another area as that will impact on Richie Mo'unga, Jack Goodhue, Anton Lienert-Brown, Laumape and Braydon Ennor.

Competition for starting places in the All Blacks should be as intense as the scenario which awaits.

It's not a bad thing to have a ridiculous wealth of talent, it creates expectation and pressure to perform and removes any basis for complacency and comfort to breed.

But it also, ultimately, creates winners and losers and while injuries will impact upon the best laid plans and create unexpected opportunities, in time, a few players will come to feel that the odd start against Argentina and other lower ranked nations, or regular 20-minute jaunts off the bench, are not as rewarding as a life-changing contract with a heavyweight European or Japanese club.

The real challenge for Foster and his fellow selectors is trying to make sure that by 2023, there's still an embarrassment of riches and that the last squad of the cycle is infinitely harder to pick than the first.