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'He's been knocking on the door for a while': Super Rugby veterans' shock All Blacks bolter picks

By Sam Smith
(Photo by Dianne Manson/Getty Images)

The dawn of the new Super Rugby season, as always, brings with it plenty of speculation about which uncapped players could be in line to make the step up to the All Blacks.

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Usually those bolters, as they are referred to, tend to be previously unheralded rookies in their first seasons of Super Rugby who quickly make their mark on that stage.

Every year since 2012, there always been at least one player who has been plucked from Super Rugby to make their All Blacks debut at the first time of asking.

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More often than not, those players tend to bring with them an element of surprise about their selections – those such as Tupou Vaa’i (2020), Shannon Frizell, Karl Tu’inukuafe and Brett Cameron (all 2018) have fit those bills in recent seasons.

There are others, though, who make the All Blacks for the first time after at least a few years finding their feet at Super Rugby level.

It has been similarly common to see those types of players – such as Alex Hodgman (2020), Angus Ta’avao, Jackson Hemopo, Gareth Evans and Matt Proctor (all 2018) – elevated to test rugby over the past fews.

This year is expected to be no different, as former Blues hooker James Parsons and Crusaders halfback Bryn Hall alluded to on the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.

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When asked which players they see as potential bolters for the season ahead, Hall pinpointed current Blues hooker Kurt Eklund as someone who could push through the ranks this year.

By no means a fresh, young talent at the age of 29, Eklund fits the mould of Hodgman, Ta’avao, Hemopo, Evans and Proctor – someone who has floated around the professional rugby scene for some time now but could be set for a test rugby breakthrough.

That’s how Hall sees it, as he expects Eklund – who is entering his just second season with the Blues despite having played provincial rugby since 2015 – to build on his impressive campaign last year.

“I wouldn’t say he’s a rookie, but I thought Kurt Eklund would be a bolter for me,” Hall told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.

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“With big Jip [Parsons] moving aside and not being there anymore, he’s going to get a lot more game time in that hooker position.

“Luteru Tolai’s there as well, and Ray Niuia’s there as well, but I think for a guy who’s probably going to play a lot of rugby, probably in a position where there could be an opportunity for someone that they [the All Blacks] might want to bring in.

“Obviously Asafo Aumua is there and Liam Coltman’s been in and around there as well… But, Kurt Eklund played really well last year and looking forward to seeing how he goes moving forward with Jip not being there.”

Starring as the Blues’ premier hooker throughout much of the season, Eklund garnered 12 appearances for the Blues in his maiden Super Rugby campaign, and earned representative honours for his robust performances.

“The fact that he was New Zealand Maori last year and he was picked in the North vs South, so Kurt Eklund would probably be [my bolter pick],” Hall opined.

Although Parsons agreed with Hall’s sentiments about Eklund, the two-test All Black couldn’t look past his fellow panellist and ex-Blues and North Harbour teammate as his bolter pick.

Since moving south from the Blues to the Crusaders in 2017, Hall has become a central figure for the Christchurch franchise during their run of four straight Super Rugby titles upon his arrival.

The 29-year-old started in all three finals between 2017 and 2019, and started in five of the Crusaders’ seven Super Rugby Aotearoa matches last year.

In that time, he has kept one-test All Black Mitchell Drummond out of the starting lineup on many occasions, and has formed solid partnership with star first-five Richie Mo’unga.

As such, Hall has earned six caps for the Maori All Blacks, making his debut for the side against the British and Irish Lions four years ago, and was called into the All Blacks squad for their test against Japan in 2018.

While he missed out on a test debut in Tokyo, with Drummond and Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi used instead, Parsons said the absence of TJ Perenara, who is on sabbatical in the Top League, could open the door for Hall to win his first cap.

“Obviously not a rookie, as such, but me old mate over here, I’m going to just give him a bit of a pump up, because he’s been knocking on the door for a while and there’s a real No. 9 spot open,” Parsons told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.

“There’s a couple of young boys here, obviously Folau Fakatava, but, four titles, been knocking on the door, so I’m going to say Bryn Hall’s my bolter to get into the ABs and get a test cap.”

While appreciative of Parsons’ prediction, Hall remained coy on how he sees his All Blacks selection prospects.

“[I’ll] keep chipping away and see what happens,” he said.

All Blacks ‘bolters’ who were picked in the same year of their Super Rugby debut since 2012

2012

Brodie Retallick

2013

Dominic Bird
Frank Halai

2014

Malakai Fekitoa
Patrick Tuipulotu
Nathan Harris

2015

Nehe Milner-Skudder

2016

Rieko Ioane

2017

Jordie Barrett
Asafo Aumua*
Jack Goodhue
Dillon Hunt

2018

Karl Tu’inukuafe
Shannon Frizell
Dalton Papalii
Brett Cameron

2019

Sevu Reece

2020

Tupou Vaa’i
Cullen Grace

* Aumua debuted for the All Blacks with no Super Rugby experience and only made his Hurricanes debut in 2018.

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Jon 5 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”?

35 Go to comments
j
john 8 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.

33 Go to comments
A
Adrian 10 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

33 Go to comments
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