Report: New Zealand's unluckiest player heading to Japan
The never-ending depth of New Zealand rugby has apparently claimed another casualty, with one of the nation’s most talented players set for a shift to Japan.
Chiefs flanker Lachlan Boshier has played his last season in NZ according to the New Zealand Herald and will take up a contract with Robbie Deans’ Panasonic Wild Knights at the end of the year.
Tellingly, Boshier took the Chiefs’ final kick at goal of the season, attempting to convert Sean Wainui’s fifth try in the Chiefs’ win over the Waratahs last weekend.
The 26-year-old flanker has played over half a century of games for the Chiefs franchise, having debuted in 2016, and is two games short of that same mark for Taranaki.
Boshier is widely considered one of the unluckiest men in New Zealand rugby after missing out on national selection over the past year and a half despite being one of the best-performing players in the country.
In 2020, Boshier featured in all but one of the Chiefs’ 13 matches and was the stand-out fetcher throughout the Super Rugby season.
Injury kept Boshier sidelined until halfway through this year’s Aotearoa campaign but his return came at the perfect time, not long after All Blacks captain Sam Cane was invalided due to a pectoral injury – and Boshier quickly picked up where he left off at the end of last season.
Despite the 26-year-old’s heroics for the Chiefs, Boshier was overlooked by the All Blacks last season in favour of Cane, Ardie Savea, Dalton Papalii and, somewhat surprisingly, Hurricanes tyro Du’Plessis Kirifi.
While Boshier had earned selection in the North Island squad ahead of Kirifi for the one-off match, he missed out on the matchday 23 to Savea and Papalii.
“I pulled Lachlan aside and told him he’s not in the 23 and he’s disappointed and rightly so the way he’s consistently played for the Chiefs this year,” All Blacks assistant coach John Plumtree said at the time. “If you look at the group it’s a tough loose forward trio to break into and that can happen.
“He’s got a couple of things he’s going to work on and he has a bit of direction around that. I’m sure he’s going to get many opportunities above Super level in the future.”
Nine turnovers in two games makes for pleasing reading, but Lachlan Boshier has been one of the Chiefs' top performers since he was first called up in 2016. @TomVinicombe spoke to the in-form flanker. #SuperRugby #ChiefsMana #AllBlackshttps://t.co/j4JHTFLQ4Y
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 26, 2020
That opportunity didn’t come last year, however, with Kirifi called up to the national team when the All Blacks were in need of a short-term replacement for Savea.
Earlier this season, Boshier revealed he’d not had any contact with the All Blacks but that he was still toiling away at some of the areas he felt he could improve.
“Maybe a little bit of the ball-carry in the tight stuff,” Boshier told RugbyPass. “I don’t feel I’m doing too bad out in the wide channels but I need to lift the physicality in all areas.
“I’m not the most explosive player but the tank just keeps going and it’s about having that mindset to just carry on and put your head in the dark places”.
If Boshier does indeed head to Japan, he’ll become unavailable for All Blacks selection. While New Zealand does boast incredible depth in the loose forwards, Boshier is perhaps the best exponent of the breakdown in the country and will be a major loss – especially as his best years are still ahead of them.
While the Chiefs have Sam Cane, Mitch Karpik and Luke Jacobson on their books, Boshier is a different style of player to that trio of potential openside flankers and his absence will be keenly felt by the Waikato franchise in the years to come.
Comments on RugbyPass
Don’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
9 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
33 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
33 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
49 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
33 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
33 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
33 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
33 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
1 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
33 Go to commentsArdie’s preferred position 7? Where do they get these writers from? I've no idea where he's playing in Japan, but the previous two seasons he wore the 7 jersey exactly twice.
17 Go to commentsNot good to hear Ulster described as “financially troubled”. Did not think it was getting to that level. I would hope the Irish system of spreading players of talent away from Leinster would kick in now. Better to have a Leinster fringe player with Ulster or Connacht, then getting only a few games a season in Dublin. 10, for example, would seem to be a case for spreading the talent. I would not be at all adverse to a SA man coming in as head coach/DR. Ludeke is worth trying. Certainly got a long and impressive coaching career at this level…..149 games in SR, then Japan, 30 years experience. And Ulster’s ledger of successful SA coaches and players is on the positive side. Is talk of Ruan Pienaar interested in coming back as a coach…..could be a good combination with Ludeke. And Pienaar and family would have no settling in to do, one would judge. He loved life in Ulster when there, by all reports.
1 Go to comments