'It just has to happen. It is killing me': Ex-All Black sick of seeing Suaalii grounded

Ex-All Black James Parsons has reached the end of his tether watching the Wallabies fail to capitalise on Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii’s X-factor in the air, saying “it’s eating me up at night.”

After overcoming a Springboks side that feasted on the All Blacks‘ aerial frailties in the Greatest Rivalry tour, the Wallabies struggled to handle New Zealand’s aerial revival in the Bledisloe Cup series, with their 196 cm freak athlete, Suaalii, barely featuring in the aerial contest.

Much of the debate around the 23-year-old has centred on his best position, with a brief stint on the wing giving the Wallabies some big aerial plays against South Africa, before midfield injuries saw him return to the No.13 jersey in the most recent outing.

But Parsons says he’s tired of the debate, and wants to see Suaalii play to his fullest potential. The impassioned plea happened on the latest episode of the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.

“I’m going to sound like a broken record, and I need to stop saying it, but mate, Suaalii needs to get in the air,” he said. “It just has to happen. It is killing me. It literally is. I think it’s eating me up at night. I just don’t understand how the hell they’re not utilising it. Like, to me, that is an attacking platform.

“There are a lot of people asking the same question. Like, he is a multi-million-dollar paid-a-year player. Let’s use it. I just genuinely do not understand it. Why could they do it with Israel Folau, and why can they not do it with this guy?

“They could go to wing, they could go to fullback. Put him somewhere where he can make an impact, or do what we did with Jordie Barrett the week before and put him in a position to do something. I’m actually sick of worrying about the number on his back. Let’s just create something that puts him in the game.”

In the weeks leading up to both Bledisloe Tests, All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie frequently referred to the stats around the aerial contest and how difficult it is for defending teams to deal with the high ball.

“There’s no side in the world dominating the ball being kicked to them,” Rennie said.

“It’s the teams that kick the ball who are winning a lot in the air, or getting a lot of scraps. It’s about one in four that are caught clean by the receiving team.”

Fellow Aotearoa Rugby Pod analyst Bryn Hall had a few suggestions for getting Suaalii involved in the game.

“The easy way you can actually do that is off kickoffs, right? Put it in the middle of the field. There’s usually one single lifter, or just a midfielder that’s by himself. And that’s like a 70-30, and you’re straight into the game off a counter-attack, click-attack for the next 20 seconds, which Australia like to do.

“Even a (contestable kick), like straight from nine, put it right in the middle of the field. If all the guys are chasing back for the All Blacks, they’ve got to come forward, and it’s a 60-40.

“To Jip’s point, they actually can manufacture scenarios for Suaalii to be able to get in the game, but for whatever reason, they’re just not being able to use his skill set in the best way.”

You can catch the Aotearoa Rugby Pod‘s full Bledisloe Cup review on RugbyPass TV.