The All Blacks strongest midfield partnership for the next World Cup is already clear

😃

Reiko's time as an AB is over. This article is a joke at best, honestly.

In his place came Billy Proctor, the form centre from Super Rugby Pacific, but troubles persisted with the All Blacks cohesion in the backline. The Hurricanes’ centre never stamped his mark with a signature showing

I have said this from the beginning, Rieko Ioane wasn’t the problem in the midfield, it was Jordie Barrett.

Also Proctor isn’t really a ‘signature’ guy, he is more like your Conrad Smith type player.

Rieko Ioane should be Left Right Out. If Ben Smith hasn’t noticed Leicester Fainga'anuku, he isn’t paying attention - so good he must start, can’t be just bench impact.

Jordie 12 Liecester 13 for AB's midfield.

Ok I agree I think, maybe 🤣

The problem with Barrett is that while he has everything else at 12, his ability to hit/bend the line is at best adequate. Unlike de Allende and Moefana. That creates a situation where a crash ball centre is absolutely essential when he is at 12 in tests.

What has largely gone unnoticed about Ioane is that he is rubbish at that role. He can't pick a line so he can't bust, and he doesn't dominate with his carries, despite his size/explosiveness. If he was capable in that area, combined with the fact he is easily NZ's best defender at 13, the single most important defensive position in the game, there would be little discussion about his atrocious distribution. The problem is he is still NZ's best 13 if you prioritize by 1. defence, 2. ball carrying, 3, distribution, as test coaches do.

If you look at the best 13's in the world atm, Kriel, Huw Jones and Ringrose, with Sua'ali'i closing fast, they have all spent at wing as well as 13. This gives them the speed and ability to push wide channel attackers to the touchline, catching them up if they partly go past them then isolating them, which is why all their tackle completion rates are low. None have played at 12 in pro rugby. Tupaea and Proctor are players who have never played wing in pro rugby, and it shows in tests. They're far too slow defensively, make poor reads, and are also weak in the tackle. Proctor is a below ball average carrier, and only an adequate distributor. Tupaea is better at both, but his defense in very area is so weak he shouldn't be risked.

Outside that, the player best equipped and who conforms to the 13/winger model is Faingaʻanuku. The question with him is does he have the speed/agility and ability to make the defensive reads needed at international level. He's now playing 13 for the Crusaders, spent almost all his time there for Toulon, so at least he is getting experience there. But he is at best a big question mark. Which brings us back to Ioane...

As for the others mentioned, Tavatavanawai is another Laumape, a dominant 12 at SR who is too small and slow at Test level and chokes his own backline. Anton Lienert-Brown is just old, a 12 who is slow at 13, another player around the AB's forever who has never been a long term first choice anything. Ennor is gone, as are his legs, Lam doesn’t have the agility, while Rona again doesn't seem to have the defence to play the role of test 13. Outside Faingaʻanuku, there are no appealing options playing in NZ. Which again brings us back to Ioane...

Once again Ben Smith proves that he's probably the worst NZ Rugby journalist and there is a lot of competition for that spot.

This article is laughable.

You are more with me than you think. The author of the article made a definitive statement (Barret is the best 12), which is comparable to a hypothesis and he should have provided the criteria by which to test it, which is how the conversation started. So we agree that hypothesis should be supported by facts.

Where we differ is that you assert non-definitive opinions constitute hypothesis.

From down here in the republic - we’d love NZ to go back to JB and RI. Please. By all means.

The best 12/13 combination “in the world”.

I am sure its been said already but if Rieko is the answer then what is the question?

Who is the best defensive centre? Hmmm not likely at a 57% tackle completion this season - compare Rona at 82% and Tavatavanawai at 81%.

Who is the best attacking centre? Hmmm not likely at 1 defender beaten and 6 successful passess - cf Tavatavanawai at 45 defenders beaten and 38 successful passes and Rona is at 19 passes. Proctor is at 8 defenders beaten and 23 successful passess. Tupaea is 71 sucessful passes, 63% tackle completion and 26 defenders beaten.

Now it may be that the Investec competition is harder than the SR. And its probably unfair to compare stats for a 12 with stats for a centre, but objectively assessed Rieko is not the same player he was two years ago. And in any event his are not the stats that command reselection.

But in fairness also what we cannot measure with stats is his onfield leadership - the Conrad Smith factor. However, we are told JB has that role in both the Canes and ABs - and if so, query whether Rieko is the right guy to come back into the centre position.

For my part Rieko is well past his peak and we need to find someone new who has great / solid D, speed and good passing. On the raw numbers thats Jim and then Tupaea.

A lot of chatter on this thread that doesn’t really move things forward. We don’t know what the new staff is going to do. Who knows?

There are many options in the midfield, but you still have to find the best one for the All Blacks depending on the style of play that will be developed. And that’s where, in my opinion, there are analysis errors. We have an image of Jordie, Proctor, Tupaea, or Rieko within a model that didn’t work well under Razor. I’m certain the players will be used better under Rennie. The question remains which players will be chosen to fit the game plan that Rennie and his staff will implement.

Coming back to the article and Rieko Ioane. He’s an excellent defensive centre. That’s clear—we’ve known it for a long time. So he’s an excellent centre when he doesn’t have the ball… which is still a problem when he does have it! His distribution is limited, and I don’t think he’ll be in Rennie’s plans. Maybe he’ll keep his place in the squad, but I don’t see Rieko Ioane as a viable solution. In my opinion, people are writing off Proctor too quickly… he’s performing really well with the Canes. It all comes down to the game plan. It works very well at the Hurricanes, and as it happens Jordie is also very good there, but it doesn’t work with the All Blacks because these players have been poorly used. Asking Jordie Barrett to just run straight lines in the first line of attack makes no sense. If you use Jordie with all his skills—which are, yes, among the best in the world—he becomes a key component of the attacking line. I trust Rennie and his new staff, and I think the All Blacks’ game will be transformed. Can’t wait to see it from July onwards.

Reading through the comments, I can’t help feeling that it’s not or has never been the AB midfield that let them down. For me it’s the forward pack, even an ordinary backline will look good getting nice fast and clean ball from the forwards. My personal pick for AB midfield will be QT at 12 and JB at 13.

Omg no. Reiko's time in the black jersey is over. We don't need him back in the midfield. What a failed experiment that was.

Is it fair to say the Billy Proctor experiment & ALB gamble ultimately cost Razor his job, or do we just think it was the coaching ticket that was his ultimate downfall?

In the context of how bad the backline was overall under Razor, and how dropping Ioane did not improve the attack one iota despite all the promises this might not be the worst idea.

I was extremely critical of Ioane’s ongoing selection, mainly that he was horrendously out of form. But every back looked completely out of form once they came into the ABs in the past 2 years so who’s to say which individuals were actually performing badly vs. looking bad in a rudimentary attacking system.

The main issue is that he has not set the world alight at Leinster, so it’s difficult to justify his selection on anything other than his form 3 years ago. But other than his work defensively I’m not sure he ever has ever looked that great, but seemed an important part of the whole.

If the Hurricanes are able to perform to the same level over the next 4 weeks when they will actually be tested for the first time, and JB is as instrumental as he has been then he has 12 locked down. It’s more of a return the pre-Nonu days when 12s were almost a second playmaker. When he is playing with a decent attack coach, as he did at Lienster, and currently with the Hurricanes he looks so good. Many people want to judge him by how he went with the ABs over the past two years but if that is the yard stick then there are only 2 backs worth retaining.