Kieran Read's replacements have already been found - but who will win the race to the black jersey?
New Zealand’s traditional post-World Cup exodus saw a number of experienced heads relocate off-shore at the end of 2019.
Gone are Ben Smith, Sonny Bill Williams and Ryan Crotty from the New Zealand backline, alongside flanker Matt Todd and captain Kieran Read.
All five will need replacing come the July Test series, but it’s the last name on that list that will cause the most contemplation from new All Blacks head coach Ian Foster.
Even last year, there seemed to be uncertainty in the ranks of the New Zealand selectors with regards to who made up the best loose forward trio in the country.
Read, Ardie Savea and Sam Cane were the three top dogs, but Savea and Cane were both primarily openside flankers.
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Savea was shifted onto the blindside flank for a significant proportion of the All Blacks’ biggest matches but he was returned to the 7 jersey for the semi-final, with Cane dropping to the bench and lock Scott Barrett starting at 6.
It was a decision that didn’t pay obvious dividends, with the All Blacks’ lineout struggling against the might of Maro Itoje, Courtney Lawes and George Kruis.
One of the biggest decisions Foster will have to make in his first year as the man in charge will be deciding how to utilise the pair of Cane and Savea now that Read has flown the coop.
Foster’s comments made on the Sky Sports’ The Breakdown suggest that we will likely see both running out in the All Blacks’ top team.
“It’s not a position of concern, but it’s definitely a position of interest,” Foster said of the blindside flanker role which hasn’t been permanently occupied since Jerome Kaino left the country after the 2017 British and Irish Lions tour.
“We used Ardie there before, and I love the potential of what he does, you have to have him on the park, and we’ve got a number of guys we’ve utilised.”
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With Cane a likely candidate for Read’s vacated captaincy role, it would be a surprise for him to miss out on a place in the starting loose forward trio, which leaves one spot open.
Whether that’s in a 6 or 8 jersey is somewhat irrelevant, with the loose forward roles becoming more and more homogenous as time goes on.
Given the size of Cane and Savea, the expectation is that Foster will look to bring in a player with a bit more mass – someone who can compete with the likes of Billy Vunipola and Pieter-Steph du Toit.
“This Super campaign is really vital for those positions – 6 and 8 – we need people to actually show week-in, week-out that they’ve got what it takes to make the next step,” said Foster.
Already, two players that wouldn’t have even been on most people’s radars last year have started making waves in Super Rugby.
Those men in question are the Crusaders’ Cullen Grace and the Blues’ Hoskins Sotutu.
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When the squads were first announced for the 2020 competition late last year, few would have known who these two were. Even fewer still would have guessed that they’d be earning starts for their franchises so soon into the Super Rugby season but that’s what’s eventuated.
The Crusaders have parted ways with Read, Todd and Jordan Taufua since last year, opening up three vacant positions in the loose forwards.
Despite that gap in the team, Grace was still parked behind Whetukamokamo Douglas, Tom Sanders, Billy Harmon and Ethan Blackadder.
Injuries to the latter three saw Grace make his maiden start for the Crusaders in their round three victory over the Blues, and what an impact he had.
Grace made 17 tackles, stole three lineouts and forced turnovers on three occasions. Those would be exceptional stats for a veteran of the game but, for a newbie, they’re downright incredible.
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A week later, against the Highlanders, Grace had a similar impact.
Grace’s 1.90-metre, 106-kilogram frame isn’t quite in the same league as Vunipola or du Toit, but it’s still a step up from both Cane and Savea.
The former Timaru Boys captain represented New Zealand at the Under 20 World Championship in Argentina, spending all his time in the second row, and never looked physically inferior to his opponents.
It was a similar story in last year’s Mitre 10 Cup, with Grace playing almost exclusively at lock in his five appearances.
While it might be a little premature to suggest that Grace is an All Black in waiting, Brodie Retallick was selected for the national side the same year that he debuted for the Chiefs and with New Zealand’s youngest Super Rugby player of 2020 playing so well in his game time to date, it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone if Grace does get the call up later in the season.
Sotutu, who turned out for the New Zealand Under 20 side a year earlier, faced similar roadblocks to Grace at the start of the season.
Dane Coles has again courted controversy thanks to a bit of niggle – but his aggression is exactly what the @AllBlacks have been missing amongst their ranks writes @TomVinicombe. #SuperRugby #AllBlacks https://t.co/9dJAuIeMc3
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With men like Dalton Papalii, Blake Gibson, Tom Robinson and Akira Ioane on the Blues’ roster, it was hard to envisage Sotutu even cracking the bench.
Ioane, a player who many felt was never given a fair crack at the All Blacks under Steve Hansen’s reign, was supposed to take things to another level in 2020.
Sotutu’s strong performances in the Blues’ two pre-season outings, however, was enough to justify his selection ahead of Ioane for the Blues’ opening game of the year and he’s now cracked on to start all four of his franchise’s matches to date.
While Grace has been dominant on defence, Sotutu has stood out thanks to his hunger on attack and seemingly insatiable desire to hit breakdown after breakdown.
With almost identical measurements to Grace, it’s also good to see Sotutu’s softer skill on show, with a deftly weighted grubber kick from the number 8 setting up a try for wing Mark Telea in the Blues’ win over the Waratahs in round two.
Sotutu doesn’t have the same lineout prowess as Grace but he would add some extra impetus on attack, which the All Blacks lacked at times in 2019.
Between the two men, Foster has two very good options to bring onto the Test scene for 2020 – but there’s one other player who’s yet to really feature this year who will likely have a major say in the proceedings.
Luke Jacobson, who was one of the biggest selection surprises for last year’s Rugby World Cup, has managed just 10 minutes for the Chiefs in his first game of the season on Saturday night before succumbing to a hamstring injury.
Jacobson has already been dealt a poor hand in his pro career to date with concussion limiting his appearances for Waikato and the Chiefs before it ultimately cut short his World Cup campaign.
If the former Under 20 captain can clock up some injury-free minutes on the pitch this year then he’ll be a shoe-in for Foster’s first squad of 2020 – but that’s a big if, given his history.
Throughout the last World Cup cycle, the likes of Shannon Frizell and Vaea Fifita were given opportunities for the All Blacks without them every cementing a spot in the squad. Now, the younger generation are coming through and look hungrier than ever.
Cullen Grace and Hoskins Sotutu and have made big strides already this year in the race to replace Kieran Read for the All Blacks while Luke Jacobson has obvious untapped potential. Which of these three will impress Ian Foster the most over the next 17 weeks?
WATCH: Catch up on all the highlights from Round 5 of the Japanese Top League featuring a host of international stars lighting it up all over the show.
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 …
26 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!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 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.
26 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.
26 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