'He looks a weapon': Why All Blacks rookie Caleb Clarke should start in Bledisloe Cup II
In young star Caleb Clarke, the All Blacks may have found a new leading candidate to claim the No. 11 jersey this weekend.
That’s the verdict of Clarke’s Blues teammate and former All Blacks hooker James Parsons, who labelled the newly-capped New Zealand international as “a weapon”.
Speaking on the Aotearoa Rugby Pod, Parsons said Clarke was worthy of starting for the national side in this week’s Bledisloe Cup clash following the youngster’s impressive cameo showing off the bench in the 16-all draw against the Wallabies in Wellington.
Coming into the match in place of Damian McKenzie with little more than 10 minutes to play, the 21-year-old showed glimpses of the devastating power that made him one of the form players in Super Rugby Aotearoa.
“For me, Caleb Clarke has to be on the field,” the two-test rake said.
“Every time he touched the ball – I don’t know how many defenders beaten, but it would be in double figures, and he didn’t have that much time on the park.
“He just looks a weapon, a threat with ball in hand.”
Both Parsons and Crusaders halfback Bryn Hall were particularly impressed with the composure and maturity shown by Clarke in what was his test debut.
“I thought he was outstanding, and the best thing for a young guy coming through, when you think about it in a scenario like that, you can kind of go out there thinking, ‘What can I do? What more can I do?’ to try and overplay your hand, but he didn’t at all,” Hall told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.
“He was so smart about his decision-making, about holding onto the ball. There were times when he was beating defenders, couldn’t look for the offload, but took into consideration the type of game, how tight it was, and his decision-making under pressure was great.
“If there’s a guy that deserves to be [picked] based on his North vs South, Super Rugby Aotearoa form, and he comes on there in a pretty hostile environment – not a normal flowing game – I thought he was outstanding.”
He might have impressed off the bench in his test debut, but Caleb Clarke was left with his heart in his mouth following an injury time error.https://t.co/rWcMluiXDd
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 12, 2020
Parsons added: “I think the best example of how aware he was of the occasion and how tight the test was was every time he gets that ball on the left flank, he goes bang off his left [foot] and gets in-field.
“Then he comes off Aaron Smith’s shoulder and he runs into three big boys and you think, ‘He’s going to go back’, and then he spins out and breaks two tackles and gets behind the gainline.
“It’s little efforts like that that, for me, shows he’s on the job. He’s not playing out of emotion, he’s playing with a clear head.”
Parsons suggested Clarke’s time with the All Blacks Sevens squad at the beginning of the year may have played a significant role in his development this season.
Named in the national sevens side for the 2019-20 World Sevens Series, Clarke hardly anticipated playing at Super Rugby level this season as he eyed a place in Clark Laidlaw’s 12-man squad for the Tokyo Olympics.
Playing in the Sydney, Los Angeles and Vancouver tournaments, Clarke only returned to the Blues set-up once World Rugby cancelled the remainder of the sevens series and the Olympics were postponed by a year due to COVID-19.
However, Parsons theorised that time with the All Blacks Sevens paid dividends for both Clarke’s mental game and his relatively unheralded ability to contest in the air.
“Ever since he’s come back from sevens, his skillset and his mindset is just so sharp, and I don’t know if it is the sevens, maybe it’s just maturing or whatever, but his ability under the high ball now, it’s incredible,” Parsons said.
“That’s why I think it’s a skillset people have forgotten about with him. He is seriously good under the high ball, with defusing bombs, if he gets good escorts, he catches the ball above his head like AFL sort of style.
“For a big man, sometimes people just think, ‘That’s not part of his game’, but it’s a massive part of his game.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGTm8a6lrCL/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
That, for Parsons, is enough to warrant handing the one-cap rookie a starting place in this week’s All Blacks side for the second Bledisloe Cup match in Auckland.
Such a selection ploy would likely be at the expense of incumbent left wing George Bridge, which Parsons said would be validated due to the sparkling form Clarke is currently enjoying.
“It’s hard because Bridge is so good, Jordie [Barrett] was good yesterday, but yeah, I think he has to start,” Parsons told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.
“Just like last year when George came in for Rieko [Ioane], it was purely just based on the form thing and he was just playing well at the time. You’ve just got to get him out there because he is in super touch.”
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments