The blues become Super Rugby champions, the Warriors take a dive and the Northern stars stay on top, plus more. Video / NZ Herald
OPINION:
The All Blacks have set themselves the goal this year of playing consistently well enough to once again be the number one rugby nation on the planet.
It's a simple, measurable mandate, ambitious enough to motivate and in the wake of the first squad of the year having beenannounced, realistic enough to be achievable.
The All Blacks have picked a squad with a definitive abrasive edge and a muscularity that reflects the current need to be prepared to go North-to-South first rather than East-to-West to win tests.
Yet this obvious heft and collision power has not come at the cost of a lighter touch as it's hardly as if the squad is lacking play-makers, invention or visionaries, containing as it does Beauden Barrett, Richie Mo'unga, Damian McKenzie and Aaron Smith.
There is enough clout, clatter and creativity to imagine that this All Blacks side could be moulded into something special this year.
For all the fretting, conjecturing and hypothesising about the impact of having to play so much rugby against domestic opposition and then the uncertainty about the quality of Australian opposition, four months of Super Rugby has sharpened the edges of New Zealand's elite and produced an inordinate number of match-hardened, good players.
No one can honestly say that this is a squad with an obvious missing piece or glaring weakness.
There is no cause celebre omission and what may not have been fully appreciated yet is that this squad has been picked to enable coach Ian Foster to build a range of subtly different gameplans to meet the contrasting challenges they will face this year.
That flexibility is possible because there is skill-set variety within all the positions. Take the most problematic area of the midfield where the selectors were unhappy with what they saw at second-five last year.
Despite injury to Jack Goodhue and Ngani Laumape's decision to leave for France, the All Blacks have still managed to give themselves the option of using the fast-feet, clever timing and unorthodox work of Anton Lienert-Brown in that No 12 role.
If his offering isn't deemed right, they can try the hybrid model of David Havilli who brings grunt and graft with the vision of a No 10 and instincts of an outside back.
Or, potentially, the raw but Quinn Tupaea could be injected, to play a simple but effective hand of crashing over the gainline and blunting the opposition.
Chiefs Quinn Tupaea makes a break during a Chiefs Super Rugby Aotearoa training session. Photo / Getty Images.
Options abound, too, in the loose forwards where it seems likely that Ethan Blackadder, with his desire to run hard and tackle could be the ideal sort of blindside to throw into battle against the Boks, while the more athletic Akira Ioane could be utilised against the Wallabies.
Variety, when it comes to test rugby, is indeed the spice of life and the All Blacks front-row is another area where there is room to play around.
If Foster wants to spend 80 minutes scrummaging for penalties he's got the set-piece assets in Nepo Laulala, Karl Tu'inukuafe, Ofa Tuungafasi and Joe Moody (when the latter two recover from injury) to do just that.
Whereas, if he wants to inject some energy from the bench and pursue a more dynamic and faster style of football, he can select Ethan de Groot and Angus Ta'avao – who are both mobile defenders and good ball handlers.
This is an All Blacks squad with a rich diversity of skills and maybe it's always thus, but it feels, given the breadth of talent and specific skills within, like Foster had something of a Churchillian moment at the start of the year, asking New Zealand's Super Rugby franchises to give him the tools so he can finish the job.
Given the make-up of the 36, there is every reason to be optimistic, confident, even, that the All Blacks will develop the multi-faceted game they need to dominate test rugby this year.
They have the personnel to build a strong set-piece. They have ample ball carriers in the variety of body shapes that are required these days to flummox defences and enough finer skills among the pack to play with continuity.
The backs have the requisite tactical generals, distributors, finishers and kickers almost regardless of how they line up.
Sevu Reece and Ethan Blackadder of the Crusaders (L-R) look on during the round one Super Rugby Trans-Tasman match. Photo / Getty Images.
Last year, the All Blacks played with the volatility of Britain's Brexit strategy: clinical, certain and forceful at times, shambling, passive and confused at others.
It was impossible to get a true gauge of what they were really all about – or sense their potential measured against their ambition and with only six tests, 2020 ended with more questions than answers.
Those questions should end up mostly answered this year and the All Blacks, if they can find the mental application to stay focused and prepare with the intensity and precision that the job requires, should end up back as the world's number one team.
