Justin Marshall: Rugby Championship time for experimentation

Waisake Naholo. Photo / Getty Images.

The All Blacks' international campaign continues when the Rugby Championship begins next week, a competition that arrives with an intriguing question.

Obviously it's a shortened event, with each team playing the other only once, so is it a proper Rugby Championship or is it instead a World Cup development tournament?

I think the answer has to be the latter. The teams don't have to deal with the usual travel - the All Blacks aren't going to Argentina - so it's just a very different competition and I don't feel like lifting the trophy this year is going to be as rewarding as normal.

So I think the Rugby Championship is more about the four teams using it as preparation.

While the All Blacks have enjoyed the luxury of the Samoan test, the Rugby Championship is now the only opportunity for any side to test out combinations and solve any problems before the World Cup.

We certainly don't want to undermine the significance of the tournament but, because of the way it's structured, I think teams could probably use it as more of an experiment than usual. The All Blacks, for one, have a lot of decisions to make and they shouldn't be afraid to try some things.

They have to do some culling, they have to work out the balance of their squad, and I just don't feel they can do that it one game. I don't think they can throw players out against Argentina and then play their first-choice XV for the next three matches.

The All Blacks work to protect their history and the players know that every time they go out and play. They certainly don't want to go out there and lose any test matches, but some of the guys they've named have never been seen in a black jersey.

They have to throw guys into test matches - your Milner-Skudders and your Naholos - and find out whether they're able to cope. A test match at Ellis Park comes with high stakes and big crowds, which is the perfect opportunity to see if the fringe players are who you want come the tail-end of the World Cup.

We've adopted the rotation strategy in the past but I don't think the All Blacks want to go to the World Cup still finding out about players in the pool matches. They want to hit the tournament with rhythm, keeping their core group together and having them firing come the quarter-finals.

And that's not an overly-arduous task. The Highlanders and Hurricanes have had a reasonable workload this season, but there are only four tests leading into the World Cup and then the possibility of seven matches in Britain. So, doing the math, 11 tests is no more than normal.

The top tier of All Blacks should be able to manage that workload so now, in the Rugby Championship, is the time to hand chances to some players. And they're not the only team who would appreciate that opportunity- South Africa are bringing back a lot of experienced players, while Australia have the likes of Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell available again.

All the Rugby Championship sides have World Cup melon-scratchers and I think the Rugby Championship is perfectly set up for these teams to play high-quality test rugby while also making some judgements on players in a big test match environment.

Not in a pool game at the Rugby World Cup, when it may already be too late.