All Blacks: Leonard puts sting into side

Brendon Leonard sparked from match one in the Super 14 and coaches are hopeful he will do the same for the game against Italy. Photo / Getty Images

Strange how impressions can be way off the mark. The return of halfback Brendon Leonard seemed to have boosted the All Blacks experience for Saturday's test against Italy.

He has been away from the national side for about 18 months, largely because of a chronic knee injury, but his selection this week immediately seems to have added some starch, sting and variety to the All Blacks. Leonard has a variety to his game which other halfbacks do not seem to possess.

He challenges defences in close with his acceleration and power, he has a neat array of box kicks, defends and clears the ball strongly.

All in all a nifty package but when checked, one that has worn the All Blacks starting garb in only a solitary test, against Portugal at the last World Cup. His eight other appearances have been from the pine. Leonard remains the strongest halfback but he is the least experienced.

Even Andy Ellis has played more tests while Jimmy Cowan and Piri Weepu have streaked away as Leonard has been in the recovery room.

But this season Leonard sparked from match one in the Super 14, he was playing like he had impressions to make, he was in a hurry to make up for his absences. It was working a treat until his hamstring gave out before the playoffs.

The All Blacks medics have given Leonard extra time to recover. They held him back last week but the reins are off this weekend.

"We are hoping he will be where he was at the start of the season," assistant coach Wayne Smith said.

"He had time off, worked hard on coming back and then just licked the competition up from the very first game so that is what we are hoping, that we get the same sort of response. He always looks sharp, he is a hard trainer, he is a physical sort of guy but you would expect him to run out of legs at some point."

The team for Italy was a balancing act with an eye towards giving some players their debut, others who needed a run while maintaining work for those who would be needed in a few weeks when the Bledisloe Cup and Tri-Nations series started against the Wallabies.

The selectors tried to keep some combinations going but had some issues with injury (Neemia Tialata, Conrad Smith and Stephen Donald) while they also wanted to created some more Bledisloe Cup selection contests. There were still many unknowns, like whether Leonard could start a Bledisloe Cup test (at Eden Park on July 18) with just one test against Italy this season.

"That is what we will all have to see," Smith said.

The selectors knew what Weepu and Cowan could do and had done for the team since Leonard last played for the All Blacks at the 2007 World Cup. Weepu covered halfback and first five-eighths so his place seems assured with Leonard and Cowan probably duelling to start the Bledisloe Cup.

There was an exciting look about the new backline with Luke McAlister in at five-eighths to steer a backline which oozed running ambition if the conditions allowed. He had replaced the injured Donald, who was a work in progress, but had made advances with his game in difficult conditions this year in twin tests.

Like many of the young players in the squad, Donald was a player who was still building his game, experience and skills.

McAlister had looked quite sharp in two substitute appearances but was short on match fitness after plans to work him back into matchplay through the Junior All Blacks were short-circuited. He would build on his fitness this weekend and would get further chances in club rugby or an All Black camp before the Bledisloe.

"We've had really physical trainings trying to replicate the intensity of matches," Smith added.

The intention was to play with some width against Italy if they gained some forward parity with the visitors and conditions in Christchurch allowed.

The All Blacks will play Wales in November as part of a five-match tour to Britain and Europe.

The New Zealand and Welsh rugby unions yesterday confirmed the match would be at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on November 7, forming part of 10th anniversary celebrations of the stadium's opening.

The All Blacks will follow the Wales match with tests against Italy at Milan on November 14, England at London on November 21, France at Marseilles on November 28 and a match against the Barbarians at London on December 5.