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Recalled All Black David Havili's commitment to being a 'fulltime midfielder'
It’s taken a positional change and a run of injury-free rugby, but David Havili has finally fought his way back into the All Blacks after spending three years in the international wilderness.
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Havili first featured for the All Blacks in the latter stages of the 2017 season, notching up three appearances for the New Zealand national side in the outside backs.
While his form has been impeccable over the past few seasons, injuries have often come at the worst time for Havili, while the All Blacks have always had exceptional depth in the outside backs and particularly at fullback, where the 26-year-old used to call home.
Even at the Crusaders, Havili hasn’t exactly had a clear run in the No 15 jersey thanks to the presence of up-and-coming superstar Will Jordan while the All Blacks have called upon Beauden Barrett, Jordie Barrett and Damian McKenzie to play at fullback over the last year, while Ben Smith was also a roadblock before he left New Zealand’s shores at the end of 2019.
Havili was again immense for the Crusaders this year but it wasn’t in the No 15 jersey where he stood out, instead being asked to fill in at midfield due to injuries to Braydon Ennor and Jack Goodhue.
That positional change has now paved the way for Havili to return to the national set-up – but that was never a factor in the shift. It was simply to plug a gap that needed filling in the Crusaders backline, something which Havili has done expertly over his time with the team.
“That was just a thing that Razor [Crusaders coach Scott Robertson] mentioned to me, and yeah I just sort of ran with it,” Havili said regarding his positional switch for 2021.
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“To be fair, at the time he just said ‘Oh you’re going to be playing 12’ and I said ‘Oh well, all right, I’ll give it a crack’ and sort of just ran with it from there. It wasn’t anything about making the All Blacks, it was just about doing my best for the team and at the time [that] was playing in midfield.”
Now, Havili is expected to perform a similar role for the national side and is one of just two specialist No 12s in the team, alongside new cap Quinn Tupaea. With Ennor – also recalled to the team – now out due to appendicitis and Anton Lienert-Brown unlikely to feature in the opening game also due to injury, it’s looking more and more likely that Havili will be given an extended run in the midfield in the upcoming tests against Tonga and Fiji.
“I’ve got a job to do in the midfield and that’s to focus on my role,” Havili said. “The more I can learn in the first couple of weeks and get my head around the gameplan and what they want from me is going to help me out immensely.
“I’m certainly searching for an opportunity but I just want to learn as much as I can. I’ve been out of the environment for a long time now and I’m getting out alongside ALB [Lienert-Brown] to really try and cement a position and just learn what he’s done over the few years. He’s a world-class player so the more I rub shoulders with him, the better I can be.”
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There are some who still remember Ma'a Nonu as merely a simple wrecking ball. If that were truly the case, the #AllBlacks wouldn't still be struggling to fill the void left by the midfield centurion following the 2015 World Cup. @maavelous
?? Gregor Paulhttps://t.co/n0NM4EIUIU
— The XV Rugby (@TheXV) June 24, 2021
Shifting out of the outside backs and meant that Havili has needed to add a bit of extra bulk to his frame, getting his weight up to 98kg – something which should come in use against the big Pacific Island midfielders that will be running at Havili in the coming weeks.
Despite the successful move to No 12, however, Havili isn’t ruling out a change in the future.
“[I’ve] thoroughly enjoyed playing the midfield this year and certainly want to carry that on,” he said. “I’m not going to scratch myself as a 15 just yet but for now, yeah, fulltime midfielder.”
The All Blacks kick off their test calendar with a game against Tonga at Mount Smart in Auckland next Saturday.
Comments on RugbyPass
Beaches? In Cardiff? Where?
1 Go to commentsHe is right , the Crusaders will be a threat. Scott Barrett, ( particularly), Fergus Burke , Codie Taylor, ( from sabbatical) etc due back soon for the Crusaders. There are others like Zach Gallagher too. People can right the Crusaders off, Top 8 , here we come !!
1 Go to commentsWe will always struggle for money to match the other sides but the least the WRU can do is invest properly in Welsh rugby. Too much has been squandered on vanity projects like the hotel and roof walk amongst others which will never see a massive return. Hanging the 4 pro sides out to dry over the last decade is now coming back to bite the WRU financially as well as on the pitch. You reap what you sow.
1 Go to commentsWhat do you get if you cross a doctor with a fish? A plastic sturgeon
14 Go to commentsWhat happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to commentsGregor I just can’t agree with you. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. Jordie Barrett has signed until 2028. By the end of that he would have spent probably 11-12 years on Super Rugby and you say he can’t possibly have one season playing somewhere else. It is absurd. What about this scenario, the NZR play hard ball and he decides to leave and play overseas. How would that affect the competition. There seems to be an agenda by certain journalists to push certain agendas and don’t like it when it’s not to their liking. I fully support the NZR on this. Gregor needs to get a life.
2 Go to commentsHope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
1 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
2 Go to commentsJake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
9 Go to commentsThe Springboks tried going down the road of only picking home-based players and it was an unmitigated disaster in 2016 and 2017. Picking overseas-based players has been one of the main reason the Boks have done so well since 2018, not only because of the quality Rassie could call on, but because of the knowledge and experience those players brought into camp from England, France and Japan. With some of the big names playing abroad it also gave younger players in SA the chance to break through at franchise level. Would we have seen the emergence of a Ruan Nortje if RG and Lood were still at the Bulls? Not so sure. I understand why Jake would want to block players leaving since his job depends on good results but it’s an approach that would take Bok rugby back to the bad old days and no South African wants to see that.
9 Go to commentsExeter were thumped by 38 points. And they only had to hop on a train.
39 Go to commentsI am De Groot.
1 Go to commentsHad hoped you might write an article on this game, Nick. It’s a good one. Things have not gone as smoothly for ROG since beating Leinster last year at the Aviva in the CC final. LAR had the Top 14 Final won till Raymond Rhule missed a simple tackle on the excellent Ntamack, and Toulouse reaped the rewards of just staying in the fight till the death. Then the disruption of the RWC this season. LAR have not handled that well, but they were not alone, and we saw Pau heading the Top 14 table at one stage early season. I would think one of the reasons for the poor showing would have to be that the younger players coming through, and the more mature amongst the group outside the top 25/30, are not as strong as would be hoped for. I note that Romain Sazy retired at the end of last season. He had been with LAR since 2010, and was thus one of their foundation players when they were promoted to Top 14. Records show he ended up with 336 games played with LAR. That is some experience, some rock in the team. He has been replaced for the most part by Ultan Dillane. At 30, Dillane is not young, but given the chances, he may be a fair enough replacement for Sazy. But that won’be for more than a few years. I honestly know little of the pathways into the LAR setup from within France. I did read somewhere a couple of years ago that on the way up to Top 14, the club very successfully picked up players from the academies of other French teams who were not offered places by those teams. These guys were often great signings…can’t find the article right now, so can’t name any….but the Tadgh Beirne type players. So all in all, it will be interesting to see where the replacements for all the older players come from. Only Lleyd’s and Rhule from SA currently, both backs. So maybe a few SA forwards ?? By contrast, Leinster have a pretty clear line of good players coming through in the majority of positions. Props maybe a weak spot ? And they are very fleet footed and shrewd in appointing very good coaches. Or maybe it is also true that very good coaches do very well in the Leinster setup. So, Nick, I would fully concurr that “On the evidence of Saturday’s semi-final between the two clubs, the rebuild in the Bay of Biscay is going to take longer than it is on the east coast of Ireland”
11 Go to commentsWhat was the excuse for the other knockout blowouts then? Does the result not prove the Saints were just so much better? Wise call to put your eggs in one basket when you’ve got 2 comps simultaneously finishing.
39 Go to commentsReally hope Kuruvoli and his partner rock the Canes.
1 Go to commentsI wonder what impact Samson has had on their attack, as the team seems less prone to trundle it up the middle, take the tackle and then trundle it up again. I lost faith in the coach last year as the Rebelss looked like a 2nd/3rd rate South African team. I also disliked Gordon standing back, often ignored as the forward battle went on and on. Maybe its our Aussie way of not getting off our A***’s until the enemy is at the gate.
86 Go to commentsThanks for the write up. Great to see the Rebs winning, I am a little interested in how they will go against the remaining kiwi teams, I think they’ve only played Hurricanes and Highlanders but how great to see these players performing!! I also see Parling has a job beyond June 30! A good move by RA? Also how do you fix the Rebels previously scratchy defence?
86 Go to commentsbe smart - go black
14 Go to comments