'Ardie is not that': Ex-All Black fed up with the selection of hybrid players

Ex-All Black halfback Justin Marshall is fed up with certain hybrid player selections and wants the All Blacks selectors to start picking a specialist No.8.

Dave Rennie’s first loose forward trio sprung a surprise with Luke Jacobson named at openside against France, last year’s No.8 Peter Lakai selected at blindside for the first time in his career and captain Ardie Savea at No.8.

In his second Test in charge, Jacobson and Savea were again named at 7 and 8, with a new blindside in Wallace Sititi. Debutant Anton Segner came into the game at openside to replace Jacobson.

The head coach claimed “they are just numbers” on the back of the jerseys and that the roles have little differentiation in the modern age.

Marshall disagreed and implored the selectors to go for a big bodied ball carrier like Wallace Sititi who can bend the defensive line in 10 channel.

“I want to see a genuine out-and-out No.8. Ardie is not that. He’s a hybrid,” Marshall told Sky Sport’s The Breakdown.

“In the first two test matches this year, he has not come off the back of a scrum once. Not one carry off the back. And there’s nothing more fearsome to a first five and a flanker out there, I can tell you, than a powerful No.8 coming off and all of a sudden the defence has to adjust and adapt.

“Wallace Sititi can do that. He started to do that inaccurately, yes, because he’s a bit rusty yesterday in the Test, and that’s where the balance has got to go to.

“That’s why I want to make that back row look like that.”

Sititi played the final quarter at No.8 against Italy after captain Savea was subbed off for lock Josh Lord, with a reshuffle putting Tupou Vaa’i back on the blindside.

Marshall was not a fan of the Vaa’i blindside experiment which was first tried under Ian Foster against France in the opening game of the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

Former coach Scott Robertson tried the ploy again last July against France with Vaa’i given the No.6 jersey in Wellington.

“In my mind, he’s a world class at lock. He was the standout player and had been for the All Blacks for a couple of years,” Marshall explained.

“That’s where his energy levels are really, really good and I think he understands the mindset of where he positionally needs to be on the field at lock.”

The issue for Marshall is the expanded role of loose forwards who have to operate out in the wide channels against outside backs.

“Loosies now is such a different role. You’ve got to distribute him much more, be able to play in the outside channels. I don’t think that’s in his DNA. Not that he can’t adjust. So for me, I’d leave him at lock,” he said.

“I would have Wallace Sititi at No.8 with Peter Lakai and Ardie Savea on the flanks. I know that’s not giving us height in the lineout, but Wallace can be used as a lineout option.”