After four years, Asafo Aumua has finally earned his All Blacks start
Asafo Aumua made his first appearance for the All Blacks in a 31-22 win over the Barbarians on the 2017 end of year tour. Almost four years later, the wrecking ball is finally set for his run-on debut.
Aumua, who had originally been selected as an apprentice and wasn’t necessarily expected to earn any minutes, clocked up one further appearance on that tour. He was recalled into the All Blacks in 2019 ahead of the Rugby World Cup but never took the field, and earned one more cap off the bench last year.
2021 loomed as the first opportunity for Aumua to really start to accrue some minutes in the black jersey, as the nation’s third-best hooker, but ahead knock suffered against Tonga in the opening match of the international season meant he was set for a short stint on the sidelines, with Samisoni Taukei’aho called into the All Blacks as injury cover.
Taukei’aho has looked every bit a test-level hooker since earning his first cap against Fiji in late July – and that’s presented a new challenge for Aumua.
“Samisoni, I think, has been outstanding in his introduction to test rugby,” said Ian Foster on Friday after naming Aumua in the starting role and Taukei’aho as bench cover. “Certainly, he’s made every post a winner, the way he’s played.”
Now, however, is the right time for Aumua to prove his credentials, Foster said.
“I just felt, for Asafo, he’s been out for quite a while but he’s done a lot of training and he’s really confident in his body now and he knows the systems.
“I think, in some ways it’s just getting a read on and it gives him a full week to really just get calm and do what he needs to do so we’ve erred on that side. I think it’s just reward for him and [this game] gives him the best chance to succeed.”
Aumua’s knock – coupled with a niggly calf injury for Dane Coles – has seen Taukei’aho clock up five straight bench appearances for the All Blacks.
Sunday’s match with Argentina presents as the perfect opportunity for Aumua to remind the selectors – and the world – what the barnstorming hooker is capable of.
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“It’s his first start and he’s jumping out of his skin,” Foster said. “He had an unfortunate July series where through injury he wasn’t able to get [many minutes] on the park. We said we wanted to get him back into NPC to give him a few runs on the board and we got one, but we couldn’t get anymore, unfortunately.
“He’s ready to go. He was ready to go last week, he was disappointed he wasn’t in the group last week but I think we made a decision to go with the most recent battle-hardened players last week, so this is his time and really excited about how he’s going.
“He might take a little while to get used to it. It’s not easy in your first test start and you’re playing against a team that probably scrums differently to what he’d be used to and there’d be a lot of pressure at lineout time. He’s a quality young man and it’ll be a great experience for him.”
The 24-year-old first burst onto the scene when he scored seven tries over two seasons with the New Zealand Under 20 side in 2016 and 2017.
Sunday’s match with Argentina kicks off at 5:05pm AEST from Australia’s Gold Coast, before the Wallabies take on the Springboks at the same venue in the first of four Rugby Championship double-headers.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
26 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments