The 2009 precedent for an overhaul of All Blacks' back three

Selection changes are on the way for the All Blacks, or at least they should be in the eyes of veteran commentator Tony Johnson, who has drawn parallels between the problems of 2025 and 2009 while making his case for a back-three rethink.

The pundit took aim at the All Blacks’ aerial woes against Los Pumas in their Rugby Championship loss over the weekend, where the Argentinians won contest after contest when sending the ball skyward.

The kick execution from the Pumas playmakers was superb, and the chasers – except for one instance when Mateo Carreras collected the ball in a straight aerial duel with Will Jordan – were winning possession by tapping the ball back rather than trying to catch it.

The kick strategy employed by the hosts made life very difficult for the Kiwis in Buenos Aires, and was a significant factor in the Pumas comfortably winning both the territory and possession battles.

While All Blacks assistant coach Jason Holland eased doubts over the aerial abilities of wingers Rieko Ioane and Sevu Reece following the loss, saying the emphasis is largely on the 10 and 15 to patrol the backfield, Johnson wasn’t so forgiving of the back three selections.

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He reflected on the problems the All Blacks faced in 2009 and how the then-head coach Graham Henry went to great lengths to resolve them.

“Now, I actually did an interview with Graham Henry, and one of the things that really has stuck with me was the response to 2009 where the Springboks were all over the All Blacks, they had Fourie du Preez, the master at half back, putting up those contestable kicks for the likes of Brian Habana, JP Pieterson, to tear after, and they were causing mayhem in the All Black backfield,” he began when speaking on DSPN.

“The All Blacks lost all three Tests. And what Henry said, the bit that resonated was ‘the silver lining out of that was that it made us think. We had to sit down’ – and that’s quite a brain trust, too; Henry Hansen, Smith – ‘we had to sit down and think about what we were doing, how we could deal with the situation, what changes we needed to make in our strategy and what changes we needed to make in our personnel’.

“And you’ll remember that out of that actually came quite a radical shuffle where (Wayne) Smithy got taken out of the attack role and put into a defence role, which really morphed into turning defence into attack, but the number one priority was about dealing with the high kicks.

“And they made those changes at the back, where, obviously, by the World Cup, you had Izzy (Dagg) at the back, Cory Jane, who had the complete full back skill set and played a lot of his rugby at fullback, on one wing, and Richard Kahui, who they decided, even though he played most of his Rugby as a center, some at the wing, but it was just his ability in the air. And so they picked the team around that.

“And it’s an issue at the moment. I don’t think it’s conceivable that they can continue to operate that same back three, because they really didn’t go very well.

“Now, Will Jordan’s a brilliant player, and didn’t have a great game under the high ball. I think with players of his class, you can probably excuse a bad game. But Sevu Reece just kept getting caught in no man’s land on defence, and the yellow card was evidence of that.

“Even the yellow card for Will Jordan came about because he darted in off his wing and slipped, and that left two players on the outside, one of whom put the kick ahead, and that’s where Jordan moved his line.

“Like I say, it’s inconceivable that they can put that same back three out there. Jordan obviously stays, and he played really well in the first game.

“The question remains, do you put him at fullback or do you move him to the right wing? I think Emoni Narawa has a fullback’s skillset as well, by the way. But do you move Jordan to the right wing and bring in Ruben Love, who is fearless; he will get himself airborne. That’s the thing that they have to consider.”

“And then the left wing, where Rieko Ioane spent last year looking like a winger playing centre, now looks like a centre playing wing. I wonder if there’s a confidence issue permeating through that backline.

“That’s the decision they have to make. But getting back to my original point about going back to 2009, they have to sit down and they have to think this through.

“They have to figure out whether it’s a matter of better performances out of the players they’re choosing, or making changes, because the Springboks, we saw at the weekend, went back to what they’re best at, and their eyes will light up at the opportunity to do that at Eden Park.”