All Blacks coach Steve Hansen answers questions at the All Blacks team announcement.
The All Blacks selectors have picked a comparative cast of thousands at loose forward – well, a large group of seven, anyway – and they are hopeful the two new men, Jordan Taufua and Shannon Frizell, have the mentality and X-factor to develop into a couple of A-listers.
The Tasman teammates have taken very different journeys to get here.
Crusader Taufua, 26, has been knocking on the door for years and must have thought his time would never come, while Frizell, 24, is a modern rarity – a player picked on a hunch by the selectors during his first season of Super Rugby.
But what they both bring is an unrelenting physicality, a hard edge with or without the ball and a workrate to match. It may be that neither will get much game time against France next month even despite the absence of No8 and skipper Kieran Read but if they do the coaches can make a fair few assumptions on what they'll get based on their performances this year in particular.
And that, really, is what has stopped Akira Ioane from being a full squad member.
The Blues loose forward will train with the All Blacks next month as the coaches attempt to knock more rough edges off his game, but although the 22-year-old is wildly talented and has what the selectors would call a big "upside", particularly in the loose and off the back of the scrum, test rugby is more about grafting for 80 minutes and sometimes without personal reward.
Taufua and Frizell are built in mould of Jerome Kaino, a man who has been the benchmark No6 for many years and particularly the last two World Cups. Whether either develops to be as good as Kaino, a 35-year-old off to France at the end of the season, remains to be seen, but both explode on to the ball on attack and into the opposition on defence.
Liam Squire, 27, and with 15 caps, is another with these qualities and the Highlanders loose forward is an automatic selection for the first test at Eden Park on June 9 if he has sufficient match fitness after recovering from his broken thumb.
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen and Jordan Taufua. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
Luke Whitelock, another backrow prospect, is the steady influence in the group but in Taufua and Frizell, who scored a hat-trick of tries against the Blues at Eden Park last month, the All Blacks have real explosiveness.
Whoever France select next month their loose forwards will have massive upper body strength and an uncompromising attitude and the All Blacks have to follow suit.
"Jordan and Shannon are what we'd call really assertive players with plenty of energy and plenty of intention with that energy," coach Steve Hansen said. "They've got a skillset that we like. Are they the finished product? Until such time as we're finished with them we won't know but we're pretty happy to be working with them."
Hansen later admitted the England-bound Brad Shields would have had a good chance of inclusion had he decided to stay, and for Taufua, who has been tempted with many overseas offers, it is a reward for persisting in the face of adversity.
"The decision for me was 'what do I want out of rugby?'," Taufua said. "I wanted to give it a good crack before I went overseas and it's paying off now."
Taufua was told of his inclusion on the phone at Eden Park after the Crusaders went back to the top of the Super Rugby table with a 32-24 win over the Blues. "I was pretty speechless and still now it's pretty overwhelming but I'm excited at the same time."
Asked if he had changed his approach this year, he said: "For me it was doing what I do best… this year it was about getting my hands on the ball."
He is likely to approach his latest opportunity with the same attitude.
