Assistant Coach Scott McLeod and midfielder David Havili reveal how the team will cope with a depleted midfield following Braydon Ennor being ruled out with appendicitis. Video / NZ Herald
OPINION:
The All Blacks, as they admit, have a problem position. They haven't been able to find, or develop, a straight-running, ball-playing second-five.
The last time they felt they had what they needed was 2017, when Sonny Bill Williams enjoyed his last injury-free season.
But since then, they have beenthrowing people into the jersey and hoping something might stick. No one, though, has been able to deliver the required mix of being a wrecking ball in the collisions, yet with deft touches and the ability to guide their No 10.
It's a problem now deemed a high priority to fix as the right No 12 will straighten the attack. The right No 12 will alleviate some of the decision-maker pressure on the No 10 and consistently grind those critical metres over the gainline to ensure the All Blacks can generate momentum.
Finding the right No 12 will also make it possible to find the right No 13 and, perhaps most critically, if there is a decision-making, ball-playing second-five on the field, it lessens the need for the All Blacks to pick a pseudo-first-five at fullback.
It's not been stated explicitly, but the All Blacks' shift to using a second play-maker at fullback – which began in late 2018 – probably never would have happened if they had the player they were looking for at second-five.
For the last decade, if not longer, the All Blacks had dual play-makers, it's just that no one, other than the coaching staff, tended to think of long-serving second-five Ma'a Nonu in that capacity.
Everyone got that he brought raw power and physical presence to the role, fewer realised just how brilliantly he communicated, made clever decisions and how well he could pass, long and short off both hands.
Ngani Laumape has been touted as the one who had it all – the man who could be the new Nonu - and the solution that the All Blacks strangely never saw. But he ticked just the one box.
His destructive power was undeniable, but since making his test debut in 2017, there was little evidence his game grew, certainly not enough, to fulfil the wider needs of the role.
Jack Goodhue is always going to convince more as a distributing centre than he is a gainline-running second-five and Anton Lienert-Brown brings such an array of unorthodox talents that it would be a waste to ask him to convert to the orthodox.
Which is why the All Blacks have decided to select David Havili and Quinn Tupaea as their two No 12 options for the July tests.
The former has shown his innate footballing ability this year by slotting into a position he doesn't necessarily see as the right one for him.
Havili showed with the Crusaders that he can do the menial work and combine it with a skill-set that has also seen him play first-five on occasion.
Tupaea has a narrower range of skills and vision, but he brings such physical presence and line-breaking ability that the All Blacks are backing themselves to start him on a brief to do only that and then develop his softer skills in time.
It all makes sense and yet there might be a long-term option – a not so left-field idea for the All Blacks to seriously consider.
All Blacks coach Ian Foster flagged Jordie Barrett as an option at second-five when he announced the squad last week. Or rather he said that Barrett had flagged himself as an option.
Jordie Barrett gets over for a try during the All Blacks V Wallabies rugby match held at Eden Park. 18 October 2020 New Zealand Herald photograph by Dean Purcell.
Foster did so in jest, however, hinting that Barrett may see himself as an option in most positions, and that it would take a series of highly unexpected events for the 24-year-old to end up in the All Blacks No 12 jersey.
A positional switch is not, therefore, in the offing. Barrett, having established himself as the best fullback in the country – against fierce competition – is not about to be randomly thrown into the midfield.
And yet, there remains this nagging sense that this wouldn't be as mad or as risky as it sounds. In fact, the argument to shift Barrett to No 12 is quite compelling.
The position is arguably less alien to him than it is Havili, Barrett having played much of his age-grade rugby at 12, including for the New Zealand under-20 side.
At 1.96m and 105kg, he's got the physical presence and a deep love of collisions. Throughout Super Rugby this year and last, he was willing to play in the front-line, running direct lines close to the ruck – a core expectation for a No 12.
He enjoys tackling head-on as he would have to do in the role and with his height, he's got the ability to get his hands free and offload in the heaviest traffic.
Jordie Barrett, Beauden Barrett and Scott Barrett of the All Blacks celebrate with the Bledisloe Cup after winning the 2020 Tri-Nations. Photo / Getty Images.
He could be the next Sonny Bill Williams in a way Laumape was never going to be the next Nonu.
He can kick – long and short – and he's played a test at first-five to suggest he's got the right level of tactical appreciation and confidence to speak up to help his No 10.
He ticks all the boxes and the question isn't whether a shift would be right for Barrett, but whether a shift to No 12 would be right for the team?
Or, put another way, does he have greater potential to service the All Blacks needs at second-five than either Havili or Tupaea?
There's no doubt that the All Blacks need that mix of physicality and innovation in their No 12 and Barrett could, if he was asked to, deliver all that they needed.
