Richie Mo'unga and Sam Whitelock of the Crusaders celebrate winning the final. Photo / Photosport
Richie Mo'unga and Sam Whitelock of the Crusaders celebrate winning the final. Photo / Photosport
OPINION:
Having played a heroic 80 minutes on one leg to finish his Super Rugby career as a champion once again, Sam Whitelock provided yet one more reminder that he is a rugby giant in every sense.
Crusaders coach Scott Robertson went so far as to call Whitelockan “immortal”, a description entirely deserved and fitting, and one that would have been hyperbole had it been applied to anyone else.
What a player, what a leader, what a great character and role model and what a truly agonising reality now awaits Whitelock as he heads into the last months of his test career.
As brilliant as Whitelock was in the final, his teammate Scott Barrett produced an equally dynamic 80 minutes – one which demonstrated his athleticism and mobility and one which provided confirmation that he is the country’s best lock.
It was Whitelock’s night, but it has been Barrett’s season and 2023 has seen the Crusaders captain find that confidence to consistently dominate the physical exchanges and lose his propensity to commit ignoble acts borne of frustration.
From the way he has faultlessly collected kick-offs, won his lineout share, stolen turnovers and carried the ball, Barrett has made himself a non-negotiable starter for the All Blacks.
Barrett has done the unthinkable of forcing the All Blacks’ selectors to contemplate the prospect of breaking up New Zealand’s greatest locking partnership of Whitelock and Brodie Retallick.
The country, rightly, gets a little misty-eyed about a combination that has been on the go since 2012 and has tirelessly delivered the set-piece horsepower, breakdown ballast and general presence that has made the All Blacks such a fearsome beast for much of the last decade.
But as much as it would be fitting for these two to be packing down in France together in search of their fairytale ending, Barrett’s emergence this year has destined the Whitelock-Retallick partnership to a different ending to the one everyone was expecting.
For the last decade, it has always been Whitelock and Retallick, but now the All Blacks are facing a new question of Whitelock or Retallick?
Richie Mo'unga and Sam Whitelock of the Crusaders celebrate winning the final. Photo / Photosport
In trying to answer that question, the selectors can’t overly weigh the importance of the Super Rugby final.
It was instructive to some extent in that it confirmed Whitelock can still pull off big plays at big moments – he had a lineout steal and turnover that were both crucial – but this is a decision that demands the selectors view a much broader body of evidence.
And based on form over the whole season, it has to be Retallick, who having steered mercifully clear of serious injury, has been back close to his bruising best.
All the staple elements of Retallick’s game have functioned well and he’s been particularly good in the air this year having shown a new skill set of aggressively poaching opposition lineout ball.
The time has come for Barrett and Retallick to replace Whitelock and Retallick.
It will be a tough call to tell Whitelock that his reward for being man of the match in the Super Rugby final and a legendary figure, is to be demoted to the All Blacks bench, but such is the cut-throat, non-sentimental nature of test football, that’s the call that has to be made.
It’s not that Whitelock should be discarded, just repositioned as the man to come off the bench and close out the last 25-30 minutes of big games for the All Blacks.
That’s where his value now sits – bringing his vast experience and big-moment nous to steer the All Blacks through the last quarter – a period which is often fraught and momentous, particularly in World Cups.
What better man to bring on than Whitelock? So calm and effective, so able to do the right thing at the right time and so likely to inflict a bit of psychological damage on opponents when they see Retallick traipse off only to be replaced by Whitelock.
The temptation for the selectors will be to get greedy and wonder if rather than choose between Barrett, Whitelock and Retallick, whether they can start with all three by shifting the former to blindside flanker.
But the All Blacks tried that at the last World Cup when Barrett was playing out of his skin, and it didn’t work, leaving coach Steve Hansen with one of his few regrets.
If he could have his time again and replay the 2019 World Cup semifinal against England, he’d pick Barrett and Retallick at lock with Whitelock on the bench, instead of doing what he did which was to drop Sam Cane to accommodate Barrett at blindside.
History isn’t always the perfect guide but in this case it serves as yet more evidence that the time has come for the All Blacks to recast Whitelock in what will be an unfamiliar but almost perfect new role.
