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Could Luke Jacobson start ahead of Hoskins Sotutu in Bledisloe I?

By Tom Vinicombe
Hoskins Sotutu and Luke Jacobson. (Photo by Joe Allison/Getty Images)

Having finally settled on a loose forward trio for the first time since taking over as head coach of the All Blacks in 2020, Ian Foster now finds himself without two of the three components as the team gears up for two Bledisloe Cup clashes with Australia.

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Gone are Shannon Frizell and Ardie Savea, with the former injured and the latter on parental leave, with Luke Jacobson joining the squad to compliment the likes of Sam Cane, Akira Ioane, Dalton Papali’i and Hoskins Sotutu.

While Ioane and Papali’i were both given runs on the blindside flank earlier in the season, Frizell has been preferred in the No 6 jersey in the last three matches and has finally started to deliver performances worthy of an international loose forward.

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With Frizell and Savea out of the picture at least for next weekend’s clash in Melbourne, Foster now has to decide how to get the right balance as the All Blacks look to build on their 50-point thrashing of Argentina in Hamilton.

NZ scored three relatively comfortable victories over their Australian rivals last year, winning by an average margin of 20 points.

In all three of those fixtures, Foster rolled out the same starting trio in the loose forwards: Akira Ioane, Dalton Papali’i and Ardie Savea.

Two of those three players are available for next Saturday’s match-up but with Sam Cane back on deck this year, Foster will likely opt to keep his captain in the No 7 jersey, despite shouldering a heavy workload throughout the season to date.

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With Frizell out of action, there’s a strong chance that Ioane comes straight into the starting XV in his place – although Papali’i, Jacobson and lock Scott Barrett are all options.

Although the selectors have expressed an interest in fielding Barrett at No 6, they’ve shown a preference for running a mobile backrow against the Wallabies, which likely rules him out of the equation for the two Bledisloe Tests, even with Brodie Retallick back to full fitness.

As the only dedicated blindsider in the squad, Ioane is likely the man who will be tasked with partnering captain Cane on the flanks.

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Things aren’t quite so clear cut at number 8.

With Jacobson only joining the squad ahead of the Bledisloes for the first time this year, Hoskins Sotutu should be the front-runner to accompany Ioane and Cane, but the fact that Sotutu hasn’t been given any opportunities in the black jersey this year perhaps doesn’t bode quite so well for the 24-year-old.

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Sotutu earned himself four starts in the No 8 jersey last year but those opportunities came against Fiji, Argentina, USA and Italy – four sides that the All Blacks were expected to beat and beat comfortably. A handful of minutes off the bench in the first Test against the Springboks, after Jacobson was scratched late in the piece, is the only experience that Sotutu has chalked up against ‘competitive’ opposition.

Jacobson, on the other hand, started six Tests (including one against South Africa) and was employed off the bench in four additional matches.

While Jacobson may not have been the first-choice player in any loose forward role, he was trusted to run out against the Springboks, whereas the same cannot be said for Sotutu.

In the almost 12 months since, it’s difficult to argue that a lot has changed; Sotutu hasn’t played any minutes at all throughout the 2022 Test season, and likely won’t have any opportunities to play against bigger, more physical opposition unless he earns himself a surprise start against England on the end-of-year tour.

Against Ireland, Pita Gus Sowakula was preferred off the bench in the first two matches – and was subsequently (and somewhat absurdly) cut from the squad when John Plumtree lost his position as forwards coach, while the likes of Papali’i and Ioane have been preferred as loose forward cover in the games since.

Sotutu might be able to turn his game on against Australia or other looser opposition but if Foster isn’t willing to play him against more defensively sturdy sides, such as Ireland and South Africa, then perhaps it’s also not worth running him against the likes of the Wallabies?

That being said, it would be a massive insult to Sotutu if Jacobson were to earn a start ahead of him against Australia, given that he’s spent all season biding his time and waiting for an opportunity.

When Jacobson was omitted from the first All Blacks squad of the season, John Plumtree – the All Blacks forwards coach at the time – implied that focussing on one position would aid his cause, instead of playing across the back row for the Chiefs, and that’s exactly what Jacobson’s done for Waikato, playing exclusively at the back of the scrum.

Given Jacobson’s performances in black last year and his ability to cover all three loose forward roles at a pinch, he may be considered the better option for next year’s Rugby World Cup when compared with Sotutu – but it would be a massive call from the sectors to start him ahead of a man who’s been training with the team all year.

The smart money would be on Akira Ioane, Sam Cane and Hoskins Sotutu running out together in Melbourne with Dalton Papali’i proving back-up off the bench but Luke Jacobson’s return to the fold certainly adds a little bit of spice to next week’s selection.

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Jon 2 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 4 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

15 Go to comments
T
Trevor 9 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

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