The Chiefs’ clash with the Crusaders last weekend delivered quite the list of things to ponder about the future of Super Rugby and indeed who the All Blacks should be taking to the World Cup.
On the latter, the case for the All Blacks selectors to inject a handfulof new players and reintroduce some they have previously tried but didn’t stick with, is now compelling.
Chiefs fullback Shaun Stevenson simply can’t be ignored, having provided yet more evidence against the Crusaders that he’s the most exciting, attacking fullback in the country.
The thing to be conscious about with Stevenson is that he’s not in the midst of a random hot streak that no one saw coming and one which could suddenly collapse.
He put together a brilliant provincial campaign last year, went away with the All Blacks XV and looked every inch the part, and this year he’s growing his game week by week in Super Rugby.
Something has clicked and he’s transformed from the sort of player the Chiefs knew had enormous potential but were never quite sure whether he would fulfil it, to one who seems to have learned how to use mature decision-making to glue together all the component parts of his game.
The fundamental difference with Stevenson now is that his error count has dropped, his defence has improved, and he has that mental capacity to stay in the fight — to flush the bad moments and continually make himself available.
His performance against the Crusaders was yet one more example of why he’s a genuine All Blacks contender now, because there he was, in the heat of a big pressure game finding ways to contribute, and his ability to pop up in the right place at the right time and do the right thing is reminiscent of a young Israel Dagg back in his 2010-2011 pomp.
Stevenson has done all he can to say he’s ready and a World Cup year is the perfect time to throw him into a test match, see if his temperament is all that it appears to be and if it is, then he’s in the sort of form that says he should be starting for the All Blacks at fullback.
There is of course in Beauden Barrett a world-class alternative to consider, but as the All Blacks selectors showed in 2011 when they favoured Dagg at the World Cup over the hugely experienced Mils Muliaina, sometimes it’s best to not over analyse things and just go with the guy in form.
An equally compelling case is building to consider Leicester Fainga’anuku as the country’s premier power wing and the man to start in the All Blacks No 11 shirt.
Crusaders winger Leicester Fainga'anuku runs at the Chiefs defence. Photo / Photosport
The Crusader had a tough time in his second All Blacks test against Ireland last year and was never seen in the national team again.
But like Stevenson, he’s shown the mental resilience to reset and come back harder, stronger and more influential in 2023.
If every defensive coach was asked which player in Super Rugby Pacific they fear the most, the unanimous answer would be Fainga’anuku.
He pops up wherever he feels like, and he makes defending less of a strategic, collaborate art of choreographed movement and more of an individual test of courage, technique and commitment.
What the contest in Hamilton did for the future of Super Rugby was hammer home two things everyone already knew: which is that the competition becomes compulsive viewing when it features full-strength, high-quality, evenly matched teams.
This is not new or revelatory and nor does it mean that Super Rugby is not as broken as everyone says it is.
It simply highlights to New Zealand Rugby that if it continues to insist on micro-managing Super Rugby coaches by enforcing obligatory rest protocols for leading players, it will continue to alienate fans.
The current rest protocols are a hangover from a time when Super Rugby was a mad, environmentally destructive journey around the world and dragged on from early February to early August.
But the new set-up comes with barely any travel burden and a couple of weeks off — more for those who don’t make the final — before the test programme begins, making it questionable as to whether there is any high-performance evidence to support the view that leading All Blacks need to be protected from burn out.
Why not trust club coaches to manage players sensibly and give fans the confidence that Super Rugby isn’t being operated by NZR simply to fill in the time before the July tests and Rugby Championships.
Allowing teams to determine their own selection fate seems like a basic right and while it won’t fix everything, it will at least, as was seen in Hamilton, go some way to creating the sort of anticipation and authenticity that the competition needs.
