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'Listen, come to our team': All Black hopeful told to move to bolster selection chance
The All Blacks midfield is a hotly contested positional group but one candidate continues to impress in Super Rugby Pacific as a potential World Cup bolter.
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Moana Pasifika centre Levi Aumua has been in devastating form and brings size and power unlike any other midfielder in New Zealand.
His damaging running was on show against the Crusaders in Christchurch in round seven where he bulldozed through multiple players to score two tries in the 38-21 loss.
Ahead of the first home game in Samoa against the Reds, Aumua had clocked the most running metres of any centre in the competition with 564, and the third most defenders beaten of any player with 37.
Only All Black winger Mark Telea and teammate Timoci Tavatavanawai have beaten more players in Aumua this season, while Moana Pasifika’s No 13 has logged an impressive eight line breaks.
New Zealand broadcast personality Hamish McKay believed that Aumua does not receive enough attention for his performances in a side that is near the bottom of the ladder.
“About bloody time! Levi Aumua is a game breaker,” he wrote on his social page after Aumua made the back page of the NZ Herald.
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“We won’t win a Rugby World Cup with steady Eddie’s.”
Former Welsh international Gordon Simpson explained on SENZ’s The Rugby Run radio show that it was in Aumua’s best interests to leave Moana Pasifika for another New Zealand team in order to gain All Black selection.
The 28-year-old was previously with the Blues in 2019 and made four appearances but was stuck behind All Black duo Sonny Bill Williams and Ma’a Nonu.
“Aumua … if you put him in a Crusaders backline or a Blues backline, how much more devastating and how much more ball would he get and how much more explosive?” Simpson told SENZ’s The Rugby Run.
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“You put him in one of those teams and you’ve got the sort of teams next year possibly looking at him.
“They would be saying, ‘Listen, come to our team, we’ll make you an offer,’ or however it works.
“It just builds his profile and yeah, then you start looking at higher honours.”
Aumua is eligible for multiple nations including Samoa, Fiji and New Zealand but was picked last year in the All Blacks XV.
His selection for the All Blacks XV caused a stir as the Moana Pasifika team was floated as a pathway for Pacific nations to develop international players.
Former All Black midfielder and Moana Pasifika coach Aaron Mauger said at the time that they would support Aumua’s ambitions, and added that all three nations should be chasing him.
“All our boys are on their own journey,” said Mauger last year.
“We’re really proud of Levi, we’re really proud of who he’s become as a man and that’s transferred onto the field.
“We support all of our boys with their aspirations. Levi’s decided that route – just for now.
“That doesn’t mean to say he’s not going to be available for Samoa or [Fiji] down the track.
“If I was those coaches, I’d be going hard to get Levi in my team for the World Cup.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Who's Jarrad Hohepa?
1 Go to commentsSo let me get this straight. Say you have the dominant scrum. You are 99% sure you can go for a scrum pushover try on the line to win the game. The opposition knows it too. They give away a silly tap kick instead. You are now not allowed to scrum. This is ridiculous! *%@ing the game up as usual! The fact that the attacking teams are not allowed to scrum from a held up over the line is just as ridiculous. Really world rugby? Careful people might start a rebel league called True Rugby or Real Rugby.
72 Go to comments12 subs during a game? How has that been allowed to happen NB? I hate when the game goes in this monopolistic direction closing up shop, it just becomes non sport. Btw have you seen anything of how Liam Coltman was tracking for Lyon? He has just signed to return to Otago though we have a couple of young hookers developing here. He was a popular gentle natured character down here and I’m glad to see him back but maybe he will be a mentor primarily?
4 Go to commentsGreat breakdown and the global politics always confuses me a little. The southern hemisphere seems to be left out a bit but I wouldn’t even know where to start with fixing it. Club challenge could be a step in the right direction
4 Go to commentsSince he coached Free state, from that time onwards, I maintained he was the coach for the Boks. A nice, no nonsense guy with an excellent brain, who gets results.
11 Go to commentswell - they only played against 14 men and had the TMO team on their side - and still should have lost… so actually that makes sense.
32 Go to commentsSouthern hemisphere Rugby is exactly that, boring. Northern Hemisphere Rugby is soooo much more entertaining and better with better players.
2 Go to commentsIf he was to be cited for a dangerous behavior, then it’s natural that he should be. Then NTamack too, yes? And I’ll add a good whataboutism - Yeandle eye-gouging on Richie Arnold: not cited. Eye-gouging. Not high tackle. Eye-gouging. It was on French TV, with French TV directors.
5 Go to commentsReally poorly written rambling piece ..
4 Go to commentsIt was so boring
2 Go to commentspersonally I’d go with : 1. France 2. NZ 3. England 4. Ireland 5. Scotland
32 Go to commentsAndy everything becomes easier with experience therefor counting etc straight after a match becomes easier when you have 100+ caps vs 17 which is the experience you speak from.
160 Go to commentsGetting rid of the Dupont Law is a good thing and ought to have been done months ago! Officially getting rid of the croc roll is a good thing. The law about no scrums from a short arm is well intended in terms of speeding the game up but it’s an overreaction to a clever yet calculated gamble that could have blow up in South Africa’s face if they conceded a penalty from the scrum that was set after Willemse took claimed the mark in the World Cup QF.
72 Go to commentsRassie The GOAT
11 Go to commentsOf their 5 big matches in RWC Scotland and NZ were the easiest. They took a 12-3 lead against NZ and after the red decided it was best to hold the lead and take chances that came. None came and it was tight but they dug a lot deeper in the other two knock out matches. They had trounced NZ in Twickenham in a fixture that NZ must now regret. Psychology was clearly with SA in the final as a result.
32 Go to commentsMy favourite line/exchanges from Chasing the Sun 2. News headline: “SA. The last hurdle in ABs World Cup glory”. Something like that. “You’re all just a hurdle. A hop, skip and a jump”. Coming from Rassie and Jacque. Basically - nobody thinks you’re going to win. You’re just a pushover team. Nobody respects you. When the camera shows the players faces, you can see the effect. You can see the rev meters (die moer metertjies) firing up. Mitchell said he felt it prior to the 19 final. He said to Eddie watching the teams warming up that it was going to be a tough day at the office. Wave a red flag in front of South African, and you can expect a reaction. This is not unique - many teams rev themselves. And Bok teams in particular. With horrific consequences (discipline, poor thinking under pressure) because that’s the drawback to using emotion right? But what this Bok team does better than many since 2007 is channel the emotion and stay on task. Despite the emotion. Why, because while Rassie might play mind games - he talks about creating a safe environment. Listen to his recent honorary doctorate acceptance speech. While he uses psychology he creates psychological safety. He’s a damn fine coach. Can’t wait for Pretoria. It’s going to be a hummer.
11 Go to commentsWhat Rassie does for SA is big. It has helped people to unite and see we can win with the right people in place.
11 Go to commentsTerrible conditions for young players to express themselves just enjoy it guys. As a saffa great to see Ausie youth looking good. Wow SA have some great talent also.
2 Go to commentsYes, another example of French tv directors ensuring that incidents like this are swiftly glossed over for the benefit of their teams…
5 Go to commentsThe prospect of the club match ups across hemispheres is surely appetising for everyone. The reality however, may prove to be slightly different. There are currently two significant driving forces that have delivered to same teams consistently to the latter champions cup stages for years now. The first of those is the yawning gap in finances, albeit delivered by different routes. In France it’s wealthy private owners operating with a higher salary cap by some distance compared to England. In Ireland it’s led by a combination of state tax relief support, private Leinster academy funding and IRFU control - the provincial budgets are not equal! This picture is not going to change anytime soon. The second factor is the EPCR competition rules. You don’t need a PhD. in advanced statistical analysis from oxbridge to see the massive advantage bestowed upon the home team through every ko round of the tournament. The SA teams will gain the opportunity for home ko ties in due course but that could actually polarise the issue even further, just look at their difficulties playing these ties in Europe and then reverse them for the opposition travelling to SA. Other than that, the picture here is unlikely to change either, with heavyweight vested interests controlling the agenda. So what does all this point to for the club world championship? Well the financial differential between the nh and sh teams is pretty clear. And the travel issues and sporting challenge for away teams are significantly exacerbated beyond those already seen in the EPCR tournaments. So while the prospect of those match ups may whet our rugby appetites, I’m very much still to be convinced the reality will live up to expectations…
4 Go to comments