'Devastating': Stephen Donald weighs in on the next All Black 10

Ruben Love has captured the imagination of many All Blacks fans with his round 11 performance, leading the Hurricanes to victory over the title favourite Chiefs.

The 24-year-old shifted up from fullback to first five-eighth in a round 10 draw against the Western Force, quickly finding his feet in a new-look backline in wins over the best of both New Zealand and Australia.

The round 11 win over the Brumbies was the first Hurricanes’ first victory in Canberra since 2017, and saw Love joined by star midfielders Riley Higgins and Billy Proctor for the pair’s first start of the season since returning from injury.

With the current crop of All Blacks playmakers all in their 30s, while opponents like South Africa and England have the future of their respective No. 10 jerseys locked in the safe hands of young stars like Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Fin Smith, an exciting prospect like Love has turned plenty of heads.

One man qualified to weigh in on Love’s credentials, despite his recent contentious punditry, is former All Blacks 10 Stephen Donald.

The man affectionately known as ‘Beaver’ initially delivered his verdict on whether the three-game sample size was enough to keep Love at 10, even when fellow playmakers Harry Godfrey and Brett Cameron potentially return to playing fitness in the coming weeks.

“From the Hurricanes’ point of view, you’ve got to be silly to change him. From what I’ve seen from his game since the time he started in Perth, he’s got more involvement. He’s not caught doing stuff he doesn’t need to like an outside back,” Donald said on The Breakdown.

“He’s touching the ball a lot more every week that goes by. Obviously, his kicking’s great, his running game’s great, naturally. But it’s his ability to be a threat with the ball.

“Last week, he showed us a couple of genuine show-and-goes, but when he’s getting the ball out the back of pods and then picking up runners – and I don’t think the Hurricanes are used to the way Ruben’s running at 10 – but when they get the likes of (Brayden) Iose and (Peter) Lakai running off him in the midfield, when he’s getting the ball out the back with shape, when they get their timing right and their depth right, they are going to be devastating.

“When you’ve got to mark those boys, when you’ve got Proctor and the likes of those boys out the back, he can fold into their game and take them to another level.

“For me, and it was a little bit like Beaudy (Barrett) on Friday night, in that last 10 minutes, it’s not something you see from a lot of New Zealand 10s outside of a Damian (McKenzie) or a Beaudy, but he just decided that he saw things and he did it.

“There were a couple of kicks there in the last 10 minutes where he’s just like ‘the ball just needs to go down there, so I’m just going to go and get it down there’. And that was great to see when you talk about game management and controlling things, he is starting to show that aspect, which, as (Mils Muliaina) said, he’s been in the job three weeks.”

Mils Muliaina threw in his two cents, giving a glowing review of Love’s performance and highlighting his efforts off the tee, where he hit six of seven attempts.

The former All Blacks fullback also pinpointed the return of Billy Proctor as a confidence booster for the young playmaker, with the centre’s attacking prowess a reliable option when sending the ball wide.

Jeff Wilson jumped in when the topic of confidence was raised, saying, “he shakes things off. He makes a mistake, bang, gone. Forgets it. Next thing.”

“The thing I love about him is he’s got an unflappable confidence, and you can see that belief in his own ability.

“Every time he got asked after the four or five games at fullback, was ‘you must be feeling really good about the fact that you’re settling into the 15 jersey’ and he’d say ‘yeah, but I can play 10’.”

“He kept telling us, ‘I can play 10’. I think in some ways, this is his best position to get himself more time in the All Blacks jersey.

“If you look at Will Jordan, you’re saying, well, there’s our long-term view. There’s our long-term guy in the 15 jersey.

“I look at (Love) and I think, there are some things that he does that we love and like at 10, let’s keep developing that. And that’s where having the bigger picture in New Zealand Rugby is really handy; going please, Hurricanes, keep him there.”