All Blacks scrum coach explains Tamaiti Williams' omission from Bledisloe team

The Springboks landed in Auckland with a monstrous pack, ready to bruise the All Blacks but came up against a staunch New Zealand pack, ready to give as good as they got and then some.

Much has been made of the performance of Shannon Frizell who ploughed his way through the South African defence while Will Jordan sliced them open from the wing. But the front row earned as high praise as you’ll hear from scrum coach Greg Feek, who claimed he was “almost super happy” with the performance.

One of those front rowers took the Mt Smart field for his debut and looked right at home in doing so. That was Tamaiti Williams, a 22-year-old Crusaders prop.

Selectors ruled the Springboks Test the right time for Willimas’ debut and the young man rewarded the faith put in him. Debuts don’t get much more challenging for a front rower than coming up against the South Africans, making Williams’ performance all the more impressive.

Yet when the All Blacks team to face the Wallabies was named, Williams’ name was absent. Selectors had instead opted to include a veteran in Ofa Tu’ungafasi.

“He’s done nothing wrong, I thought he did a good job for his first Test,” Feek told The Platform. “Mount Smart, he gets a scrum penalty his first scrum.

“I was really impressed by his focus and his ability – he played tighthead a lot in Super Rugby, then switched over back to loosehead, for a young kid it’s pretty impressive.

“Some of these boys that come in, the fact that they can just click in and get on with it, and adapt to the international scene just shows their development has been on the right path.

“With Ofa (Tu’ungafasi), he’s got a lot of experience, he didn’t do anything wrong against Argentina and that, for this week, was the right fit.

“There’s definitely discussion around it. Tamaiti came in, had an opportunity and now he’s caused a little bit of a ripple, a little tremor for selectors so it’s great.”

The match will be played at a packed MCG stadium and offers the All Blacks the chance to secure not just another Rugby Championship trophy but the Bledisloe Cup as well.

A victory would provide Ian Foster with a dead rubber the following week in Dunedin, presenting the coach with further opportunity to blood his young players. There are a number of names who fans would love to see take the field and get their opportunity ahead of the World Cup, Williams isn’t the only front-rower in the mix.

“Fletcher (Newell), if he was about to walk through the door, the door is open and he’s basically being held back,” Feek said of Williams’ Crusaders teammate, who suffered a broken hand in Argentina. “He should be good to go for next week. He’s just bursting at the bit as you can imagine, he’s trained really well.”

Both sides have been talking up the fixture all week, expressing how much the Bledisloe Cup means to their country while fans speculate the World Cup implications of the result. Feek revealed he’s anticipating a hearty battle with no love lost between the sides.

“It’ll be a classic Bledisloe, there’ll be physicality, there’ll be push and shove, there’ll be huge moments, hopefully, most of those moments are ours.”