Former All Black impressed with young locking combination

When All Blacks captain Scott Barrett went down with a huge cut in his leg during the second minute, young Chiefs lock Josh Lord was thrown into the deep end with 78 minutes remaining in Chicago.

Lord, who has now played nine Tests for the All Blacks, was tasked with calling the lineouts alongside 23-year-old Highlanders lock Fabian Holland for the rest of the Ireland encounter.

Not everything was perfect, with some of the lineouts being picked off by Andy Farrell’s side, but Lord and Holland both imposed themselves in other ways around the field, reinforcing the quality the All Blacks have in the locking stocks going forward.

It was Lord’s quick hands that helped Ardie Savea score in the corner, and Holland’s nine carries and eight tackles earned him the man of the match award in Chicago.

Former All Black lock Ian Jones, who played 79 Tests for New Zealand, was impressed with how both young locks adapted to losing the captain, and with the skills they showed.

“I felt like it went really well, we maybe just didn’t have the same ball carrying ability as Scott Barrett. But this is a good thing for New Zealand Rugby, because we traditionally don’t blood new people or take younger players on tours and let them get big game time,” Jones told Ian Smith on Sport Nation Mornings.

“Well, we’re forced to now with Scott not playing much for the next couple of weeks, and that also is going to be a good thing going forward for New Zealand Rugby. We’re going to expose younger guys to Test match rugby, and that’s going to be good for building our depth as well.

“Lord, he’s a big rooster, now, what about his hands in setting up a try as well, I mean, Holland just continues to be just a big man and can makesome big holes when he’s going through the ruck.”

Another standout in last weekend’s victory for the All Blacks in Chicago against Ireland was replacement prop Tamaiti Williams, who turned the game around in the last 20 minutes with his scrummaging power and strength close to the try line.

Jones believes that Williams’ energy is one of his strengths, coming on and impacting the game in a positive way for Robertson and the All Blacks.

“Yeah, it was class, wasn’t it. I mean, the impact, once again, of our bench coming on, the ability to up the ante at scrum time, and we started to get scrum penalties, didn’t we?

“He’s just a big man, but showed great skill when he had the chance to do that, almost unstoppable for his try, the flexibility for a big man like him, to get low as he did, to barrow over for a try, that was class.

“I love the energy he also brings on, he’s super pumped when he comes onto the field too. So the change in the front row made a great impact.”