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'Livelihoods are at stake': What Super Rugby Trans-Tasman really means - and the Blues youngster who could star against the Australians
Former Blues hooker James Parsons believes there is plenty more at stake than what most onlookers realise when Super Rugby Trans-Tasman kicks-off next week.
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The five New Zealand Super Rugby franchises will go head-to-head with their Australian counterparts for the first time in over a year little more than a month after a quarantine-free travel bubble was announced between the two countries.
Since the confirmation that the cross-border competition will go ahead as planned, many have tipped the Kiwi teams, who dominated Super Rugby prior to its dissolution last year, as favourites to clinch the inaugural Trans-Tasman title.
The New Zealand sides have also been exposed to some immense physicality and brutality throughout the past two seasons of Super Rugby Aotearoa, leading some to suggest they may use the upcoming competition to rest their established players and blood some youngsters.
However, speaking on the Aotearoa Rugby Pod, Parsons blew those assertions out of the water, claiming that all the clubs involved will select their best available teams each week.
The two-test All Black said that any chance for experimentation should have used in pre-season, and that the five Kiwi teams and five Australian sides will be out for success in Super Rugby Trans-Tasman.
“I think it’s best team will get selected. I don’t think it’s young guys, old guys,” Parsons told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.
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“It’ll be the best team that’s performing, the players that are giving their best throughout the weeks, giving themselves the best opportunity to perform on the weekend, will get selected.
“I don’t think coaches ever would look at it as giving opportunities. That’s pre-season time. I think there’s just too much at stake for all five clubs to perform and set the tone.”
The 34-year-old pointed to the sacking of Waratahs coach Rob Penney and Rebels boss Dave Wessels in recent weeks as examples of what can happen if teams don’t meet their expectations.
He said that will be no different for the new competition, meaning the best available sides will be picked as all 10 teams chase the first-ever Super Rugby Trans-Tasman title.
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“We’ve just spoken about two coaches losing their jobs. Livelihoods are at stake. We’re in a performance-based business. If you went in and said, ‘Oh, you know, I was just trialling a few things,’ that’s probably not going to cut it.
“Players will start asking questions. They’ll be like, ‘I’m doing everything right, why am I not getting a go?’ ‘Oh, we just want to give a young guy a go’ isn’t going to cut it either.
“This is at the highest level, so I think the best players will get picked, and the beauty of it is the coaches will just be straight up and say, ‘This is the reason why you’re not getting picked, these are the areas you’ve got to work on. Show me your work on them and you’ll get your opportunity.’”
One player who may have stated his case to be included throughout the Trans-Tasman competition is Blues fullback Zarn Sullivan, who impressed in his debut for the franchise against the Chiefs last week.
Will Jordan or Damian McKenzie? Former All Blacks halfback Justin Marshall has answered that question in surprising fashion after naming his Super Rugby Aotearoa Form XV. #SuperRugbyAotearoa https://t.co/30OYwdXK9l
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 4, 2021
Bagging a try and a try assist, the 20-year-old looked adept in the No. 15 jersey as his side ran out 39-19 victors over the Hamilton-based franchise at Eden Park in Auckland.
Handed his opportunity after incumbent playmaker Stephen Perofeta missed his first match of the season, Parsons suggested he saw enough from the promising youngster to indicate he could be a regular for the Blues against the Australian sides.
“The one thing I liked about Zarn, I was at that game and just watching him in the backfield, he was always looking for that kick space. He’s got a clear idea of balance of attack and not just running back and getting trapped,” Parsons told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.
“I think he’ll admit his kicks weren’t always as perfect as he’d like, but he was constantly looking to put that ball in front of his forwards, which is great, and he’s got that first-five game balance.
“He’s tall, he’s a big body, he’s good in the air, he’s got courage, he can really win those collisions. He’s selfless, I think we saw that with his pass [to assist AJ Lam’s first try].
“He could have fallen over the tryline but he went for the option for giving it to AJ Lam to score because it’s guaranteed rather than chancing his arm and getting tackled, so he ticks all the right boxes as a team man.
“He’s got the skill set, he’s got the build, he’s got the maturity, but on the other side, we’ve got a guy that has worked his way back through injury, he’s performed really well this year as well, Stephey P, so it creates competition, which is great during the week.
“Zarn did himself all the favours, performed really well, and now it’s up to the coaches to make a selection, but that puts the pressure on those two guys to perform during the week so that that selection issue becomes a tough one.”
Listen to the latest episode of the Aotearoa Rugby Pod below:
Comments on RugbyPass
More useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
22 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
1 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
21 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
1 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
13 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
21 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
13 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
22 Go to commentsVern challenging this Blues side might be the edge they need to fulfill their potential. Convincing results from strong D and strong carries are hard to argue against.
1 Go to commentsLove seems to add a strong back field defense with speed to close the gap and tackle to his ability to attack, kick and pass (an accurate long pass). This sets him an edge over some of the other names - JRK in particular. Has to be said that Jordan and Stevenson have also been exposed defensively while Love has yet to face test match intensity. Spoilt for choice.
1 Go to commentsHe’s strung together a few strong seasons, I’d like to see him in the ABs and build some depth along with Reiko and ALB. Levi Aumua hasn’t taken the step we hoped to see but time yet.
2 Go to commentsWhere has our good friend Pecos gone!? Similar place to the Crusaders D, the abyss.
4 Go to commentsNice piece Nick. I haven’t seen much of the brumbies this year so will keep my powder dry on charlie, but clearly has the speed and footwork to be damaging in space. Similar to Samu, I’d worry about the size of our pack if the likes of Mcreight and Cale were in the b/row together. Maybe Cale could play a similar finisher role like Samu did for Rennie’s wallabies. Has Cale leapfrogged wilson in your eyes? He obviously has the lineout, but harry probably better (although not great) in the physical stuff and also has great hands in the loose. You’d have to say mcreight and valetini are shoe-ins at 7/8, so the question becomes who matches best with them at 6 and on the bench. I don’t know if he has a high enough ceiling, but id love to see wright given a shot based on how much bad luck he has had with injuries. He may also fit that no-nonsense graft/work rate irish approach…? If schmidt wants size and a 4/6 tweener then I’d probably pick Uru. On the bench I’d have no idea, Wilson if you want to give valetini a rest, and maybe hanigan/wright/uru as 6 replacements.
21 Go to commentsWho the heck is Billy Fulton?
13 Go to commentsCale has all the potential no doubt. So has Harry Wilson except for his dumb arse coach over the last few years who told him just to run at brick walls all the time. Valentini would be devastating at 6. As he was until some idiot thought oh yeah, move our best player to another position. Not mentioning any flightless or thank you names of course. I very much dislike claiming one player is the saviour, because injuries are so prevalent in the game these days as the players are bigger and faster, so the discussion should be who are at least the best two players in one position. For me it’s Harry Wilson and Cale at 8 at the moment with Valentini or Hooper from the Brumbies at 6. Great options. Seru Uru should be in the reserves too. A game changer.
21 Go to commentsScott Barrett is a card waiting to happen, Cane has been out with injury as well as playing in Japan, I think they’ll go with in-Japan-but-still-the-man Savea. Samisoni Taukeaho will be Captain after 2027, so he might get some Captain minutes against an Italy or Japan.
13 Go to commentsDissapointed that after 7 years Crusaders could not have found a coach that believed their system and improved on it. What was he expecting?
6 Go to comments