It's premature to anoint Ruben Love as the All Blacks No.10 without winning anything

They’re hardly having to contend with a great Bulls team at Loftus, the Gregan and Larkham Brumbies and Richie, Dan and co down in Christchurch.

And if they are those teams? They are the modern day Richie and Dan Crusaders? You don’t normally compete with yourself in sport.

You trying to depict the opposition available at those eras, yet all you are really doing is showing how they stand out against others like those great sides have done.

Say it again if you have Roigard and Jordie with him for test number 1 against French it is not really a big risk you are taking, from there it’s up to Reuben to make it count

Poor Bidders

This article sounds positively Trumpian in its confused logic

Make him presidente

Nonu and Smith didn’t “win anything” in SR either but are considered NZs best centre pairing ever.

Give him a go.

well why not no harm in playing him there hamish your not the coach or selector and you could have either barrett or mckenzie on the bench

Yawn. No point living in the past.

Although I agree that I would like to see Love perform under pressure before we throw him into the ABs

This article got me wondering when NZ rugby journalism became so sad:

That’s why, despite being a Wellingtonian by upbringing, I’m largely unmoved by these Hurricanes.

Super Rugby Pacific hasn’t grabbed me this season. I literally couldn’t care less about the Australian teams and Moana Pasifika.

What a drip… Of course Super Rugby could be better and it’s unfortunate to see the Aussies fumble and Moana go under but there are stil 4 very good teams. It’s far from a one match comp

They’ve played terrific rugby in recent seasons

No the Chiefs played dominant rugby. They were never “orchestrators” of beautiful rugby (or the like ‘terrific’) and routinely looked lost on attack against aggresive sides like the Waratahs. McMillan could never really got the halfback to play quick nor Dmac to simply hit good running options flat, he would always have to play it wide from deep.

The Canes are nowhere near as tough as that Chiefs team, and might succumb for that reason, but they are still more direct if Love doesn’t try and do anything fancy. At the pace the Canes play I don’t think you could have more different situations.

And as such, I’m not going to bother reading any further either. I can tell you that for free.

All Super Rugby analysis towards test matches is premature. Just look at how the best wing (Reece) and centre (Proctor) last year in SR performed at international level.

I don’t think anyone is realistically “anointing” him the new ABs 10 considering he has only played a couple of tests at wing or fullback. He is completely unproven in test rugby.

I think what people would like to see is young talented 10s at least getting a chance at test level. Barrett, Mounga, and DMac were all afforded this privilege but it has not been extended to anyone new for 10 years. Barrett and Mo’unga were both handed the keys when they were Love’s age, but they had already been playing 10 in the team for 2 years prior to that.

I agree with the sentiment of the article though. These guys need to step up and play their best rugby of the season in these last few weeks. Brett Cameron had an equally impressive start to the 2024 season, but he and the team faded towards the end of the year. This cost a number of guys a chance at higher honours as the likes of Plummer, Sititi etc… got better when the pressure was on, Cameron, Iose, and number of other Hurricanes couldn’t step up in the biggest games.

The future is here now. Two of Love, Reihana, and Jacomb need to be in the ABs squad.

The point re Love is obviously correct – he hasn’t won anything (even at NPC) and hasn’t set the world on fire in SRP either. So far, it’s all hype. That said, he (or possibly Jacomb or Reihana) seems worth a punt if the only alternatives are Barrett (please no!) or McKenzie.

Hamish’s memory seems to be failing in other areas though. Far from ‘20 years’ of Auckland/Blues dominance, it was at most 13 (1984-1997). At that point, the closing-in-on-30 years of Canterbury/Crusaders dominance commenced. And neither Spencer nor Carter are good examples of the point he’s trying to make – Carter because he was in the ABs before getting to play 10 for the Crusaders and Spencer because he was never first-choice 10 for the ABs (barring injuries). Better examples are Mehrtens and Mo’unga.

If you don’t already know how good Ruben Love is, you’re watching the wrong sport. Go cover marbles or paper aeroplanes.

But do us all a favour: when the Canes win Super Rugby this season, and Love finally gets his shot at 10 for the All Blacks, and lights it up, don’t try jumping onto the bandwagon pretending you saw it coming.

Fans of my vintage can spot rugby tourists a mile away.

He is not to be anointed as such, more just needs to be given a chance to run the cutter. We have seen DMac and BB, the latter is past his finest and DMac is not likely to be better than he did. He was given a lot of tests in a row by Razor and he plateaued. Therefore, my logic is give the young bloods a run they have the potential to be special, especially Love who reminds me of DC. Jacomb and Reihana are also high potential young guys. Nothing ventured nothing gained, it was what Razor got wrong.

Fair point, but it’s not as if Barrett or McKenzie have won anything lately either. I’d rather we take a crack on young blood if all three aren't winning titles.

You don’t need to win it all to get the jersey it just helps confirm playing well whatever the circumstances is the real test Reuben is ticking boxes up to this point but admittedly he has had the benefit of a great forward pack but didn’t Foxy? he’ll yea he did and then some one a Zinzan pushover try was basically par for the course

From a quick google check Dan Carter won his first SR title in 2005 two years after he was selected for the ABs at 12 and he played his first game at 10 for the ABs in November 2004. So while I get the point that title winning 10s are a good pick, it is not a prerequisite to selection. Having said that, we are talking DC, one of the best backs of all time.