Ian Foster explains how he picked his All Black midfielders and why he called up Quinn Tupaea
Ian Foster has highlighted the midfield as the toughest area to pick of his 2021 All Blacks squad, as he tries to find the right combination to anchor down the key positions.
After Jack Goodhue was ruled out for the season due to an ACL injury and Ngani Laumape signed with French club Stade Francais, the available options were getting thin.
Adding salt to the wound was surgery for the most experienced midfielder Anton Lienert-Brown, which will see him miss several weeks as he recovers.
Foster’s first-choice duo of Goodhue and Lienert-Brown from last year will not be seen together for some time, opening the door for some new combinations to be tried.
“I think we flagged early that we probably were putting a microscope over our midfield. It was probably number one,” Foster told media at the All Blacks squad announcement.
“Jack’s injury on top of that and Ngani leaving going overseas has created a few opportunities in that space, and so that’s probably where we spent the most time.”
Foster and his staff selected Braydon Ennor, Rieko Ioane, David Havili, Lienert-Brown and uncapped Chiefs youngster Quinn Tupaea as the five midfielders heading into July’s tests against Fiji and Tonga.
Crusaders second-five Havili was one player Foster singled out as offering something different to the types of No 12s the All Blacks have used in the past, giving the team potentially a new style.
“We are pretty excited, we’ve got a couple of different styles and different options there,” Foster said
“Particularly at 12, is an area where we haven’t had a lot of depth, so I think David Havili’s progress this year has been great. He’s a different style 12 than perhaps what we’ve had before.
The only other out-and-out second-five in the squad is Tupaea, who improved this year in Super Rugby after making the switch one position inside after originally being used at centre by the Chiefs.
Foster said his transition to 12 has been “positive”, with his confidence growing as a result.
“We’ve also been really impressed by Quinn Tupaea, a young man who loves playing 12, runs hard, tackles well and will be a great learning experience for him.
“He played centre last year and probably struggled a little bit defensively in that role, but centre is not an easy one to learn when you are a young person. I think the move into 12 with Anton playing 13 was a positive one for him.
“We saw him get his hands on the ball a lot and grow his confidence defensively, so it’s an exciting time, he got named in the Maori All Blacks on Friday and named in the All Blacks on Monday. Not a bad few days.”
Foster admitted that the injury curse had played a part in Tupaea’s selection, with news of Lienert-Brown’s injury opening the door for his Chiefs teammate to get the call-up.
“That’s been part of it. Clayton [McMillan, Chiefs interim head coach], with the Maori All Blacks, we’ve been talking for a number of weeks about how we connect the teams because they’ve had to name their team first.
“We decided to do it this way, and then when Anton’s injury came in we made a decision to put Quinn in there, so he will be leaving that environment and coming to join ours.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 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
4 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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 comments