If you're an All Black winger, early ball has been hard to come by
Jeff Wilson was a big fan of the post-try point, back in the day.
A noted basketball enthusiast, Wilson was always quick to point at the player he thought had laid on the “assist’’ for his latest five-pointer.
The point wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea but, if it was good enough for Magic Johnson and company, then it was good enough for Wilson.
Fast forward a few seasons and there aren’t too many modern day All Blacks wings getting their index finger out. And, if they are, it’s unlikely to be aimed in Rieko Ioane’s direction.
The All Blacks’ backline is finally taking some welcome shape.
Jordie Barrett was never a test wing, just as Beauden Barrett was probably only a stop-gap fullback.
But with Jordie in at 15 and Beauden doing decent things (in Richie Mo’unga’s absence) at 10 and David Havili and Quinn Tupaea proving able second five-eighths, there’s a bit to enthuse about these days.
New Zealand’s wings have been a bit quiet, though, and it’s not hard to see why.
It’s not so long ago that Rieko Ioane looked like going down the Julian Savea route. A gifted athlete, who took to test rugby with aplomb, Ioane suddenly lost form, got sluggish and battled to get into the All Blacks’ best XV.
To his credit, he’s been electric of late and most fans would agree there are few carriers of the football to match Ioane at the moment.
But there’s the rub. Such is Ioane’s ability with ball in hand, that passing appears to be the furthest thing from his mind.
Now that would be fine if he were still playing on the wing but, given he’s now a centre, that’s not a great result for the men outside him.
If you’re Will Jordan or Sevu Reece or George Bridge it appears as if you’re not going to get any good, early ball. In fact, if you want the pill, then you’re going to have to gather it from someone’s kick or maybe collect an offload because Ioane ain’t about to fire the footy your way.
Many of us wondered if defence might prove Ioane’s biggest challenge in midfield. We think back to the night the Blues played him at second five-eighth in Wellington and Hurricanes’ Ngani Laumape rumbled over for four tries.
Again, to Ioane’s credit, he’s proved pretty sound at centre. But if he is going to be persisted with in that position, then he will need to develop an ability to get his wings into the game.
Ioane has a useful short-passing game from set play. He can take the ball to the line and pop to a bloke running off his shoulder.
But, given time and space, Ioane will look only for himself and then maybe offload speculatively as a last resort.
Watching the All Blacks play Argentina over the past couple of weeks, it’s been fair to say Bridge and Reece and Jordan have been quiet. But then you would be too, if catching or chasing kicks was the extent of your involvement.
The injured Anton Lienert-Brown will be back in the near future and, presumably in the 13 jumper, given what a mainstay Havili has quickly made himself at second-five. The question then is whether Ioane goes back to the wing or watches from the bench.
Overall, though, there’s been a bit to like about how this backline has come together.
Mo’unga’s unavailability has helped. It’s defined Beauden Barrett’s role and reminded us all of how well he can run the cutter from 10.
The biggest beneficiary from Mo’unga’s absence, though, has been Jordie Barrett.
It was a mark of Beauden Barrett’s skill and athletic ability that he could previously make a go of fullback, even if it effectively stymied the progress of his brother.
No matter how well Jordie Barrett played at 15 for the Hurricanes, it didn’t appear he was in much danger of becoming the All Blacks’ first-choice fullback. But, having been afforded that opportunity, Jordie Barrett is now blossoming on the test stage.
As this season began, some of us feared that the All Blacks’ coaches didn’t know what their best line-up was. Sure, they could clearly identify who the best players were, but it was less apparent that the coaches knew where to put them.
But with both the backline Barretts – plus Havili – among those players to step up, a quality, cohesive backline is emerging. The one slight concern remains Ioane.
His ball-carrying ability is unquestioned and, frankly, there are few finer sights in the game than Ioane scything through in centrefield. At least for those of us watching from our couches.
If you’re an All Blacks wing, though, then maybe you’re wistfully thinking about how good it might be to get some ball too.
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 …
29 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!😭😭😭 !!!
29 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
29 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.
29 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.
29 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