Wynne Gray: Kicking deficiencies could come back to haunt shaky Cruden

Cruden is a gold marker for the Chiefs and his general play creates all sorts of chances for those around him, but his goal-kicking is far less dependable, writes Wynne Gray. Photo / Christine Cornege

It's an image which is gaining unwanted prominence for Aaron Cruden and the Chiefs.

Blame for losses to the Highlanders and Sharks is a team issue and in tough conditions yesterday in Durban with a numerical advantage after a rash of indiscipline, the Chiefs lost their way.

Among that mess, Cruden had a late chance to pinch the victory and salve a couple of earlier penalty misses. He was in the pocket in front of goal and received a good pass with plenty of time and dragged his drop kick wide.

Several weeks ago Cruden was pulled from kicking duty against the Highlanders where his multiple misses looked more lurid when Marty Banks nailed his late winners.

Goal-kicking is a tough task under the brightest of glares. Everyone misses but the top marksmen convert a high percentage of pressure attempts.

At the very top level a goal-kicker's value has risen even more as defences have tightened and teams have kicked out of their territory to sweat on referees' penalty rulings. That style intensifies as World Cups go into their sudden-death phases where a gold-standard kicker is a ticket towards success.

Handre Pollard showed that for the Bulls yesterday with his final minute success from halfway. Those pieces of composure under extreme tension remained a glowing memory against Cruden's hooked dropped goal in the next match.

It was wet, the game was fractious and the Sharks were waiting to charge him down. Replacement halfback Augustine Pulu hit the first-five with a good pass and he was able to steady and shoot. No dice, no result.

Cruden is a gold marker for the Chiefs and his general play creates all sorts of chances for those around him, while he defends like a guard dog. But his goal-kicking is far less dependable.

He has to fix it otherwise it will cost him when the selectors pick the All Blacks' starting side. He's not on his own. Beauden Barrett missed a couple of handy kicks against the Highlanders and has not been reliable and Colin Slade was off his work in a crucial game with the Chiefs.

His Crusaders teammates gave Daniel Carter plenty of conversion practice at the weekend and he reminded everyone of his goal-kicking prowess and class. His legs may have shed their quickest twitch fibres but he gets about the park at a decent clip and has not lost any defensive accuracy.

His left peg remains the best in the goal-kicking business and if his frame holds up, his feel for the game from first or second receiver is a notch higher than most. Carter is the best first-five in All Black history and back firing, which leaves the others again in his slipstream.