Jeff Wilson on Leicester Fainga'anuku: 'I'm not quite convinced just yet'

The midfielder turned loose-forward shifted into the low numbers against the NSW Waratahs in round eleven for the Crusaders, in their convincing, 35-20 victory to open One New Zealand Stadium in Christchurch.

The position switch isn’t completely unfamiliar, with Fainga’anuku used to battling with the forward in his time in France, where he would often finish games as part of the loose-forward trio.

Fainga’anuku also featured in the loose-forwards on at least one occasion for the Crusaders so far this regular season, most notably in the second half against the Reds in Brisbane.

Wilson, who’s consistently emphasised the need to get All Blacks bench mix right, isn’t 100% convinced that the position switch would work at international level.

“Look it was an outstanding performance on short turnaround, I had spoken to him a couple of weeks earlier in Christchurch, and he actually just wanted to get more involved in the game,” Wilson said on The Breakdown.

“So this is the way to do it, convince the coaching staff that you can play in the loose forwards. And I thought instinctively, his positional play for a guy probably never played there, was really good, but his skill set still came to the fore, his ball carrying as well.

“Saw him score a try, but now he’s a viable option, a viable player, whether it works the next level, I’m not quite convinced of that just yet.”

Former Wallabies centre and current Stan Sport commentator Morgan Turinui makes it clear that it was the 12-Test All Black’s decision making that impressed him most.

“We don’t mind getting carried away, do we, All Blacks? But I think the great thing was that jersey, the number seven, meant that he could just go, it’s what we thought it would be,” Turinui said.

“Rob Penney could say, I’m gonna put this number on your back and you just chase the ball, do whatever you want to do and we saw that he did all the core roles so well.

“Like what a seven must do, his decision making was good, but he did it just a little bit faster than everyone else we’ve seen do it.”

Player Carries

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Leicester Fainga'anuku

19

2

Dom Gardiner

16

3

Antonio Shalfoon

15

The former All Black asked Turinui what the differences are between the positions defensively, which Fainga’anuku will have to perfect if he wants to become a genuine option at No.7 either starting, or on the bench under Dave Rennie.

“I think there’s lateral defence and bits and pieces like that, but then there’s the moving parts, there’s coverage, there’s splitting the field, there’s knowing where to be positionally.

“There’s choices around kick, pass and run. It’s exciting to talk about, but if you want to play Test rugby for the All Blacks, you must be absolutely outstanding at the core roles of your position.”