Unsung Hurricanes hero unanimously voted form Kiwi centre

We are now closer to the end of Super Rugby Pacific’s round-robin than the beginning and while plenty of players impressed early in the season, it’s now becoming clearer whose form is more than just a hot streak.

While the Blues are impressing across the season statistics, with the resurgent form of Hoskins Sotutu leading the competition in tries scored, Mark Tele’a leading all Kiwis in defenders beaten and Caleb Clarke taking out the most metres carried, it’s a player who excels in the intangibles who pundits have backed as the best centre in New Zealand.

When debating their form XV from the first half of the Super Rugby Pacific season, Kiwi pundits have unanimously agreed on Hurricanes centre Billy Proctor as the form No. 13 in the country right now.

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The panel, consisting of former All Blacks Jeff Wilson and Justin Marshall as well as former Samoa international Taylah Johnson, each named teams dominated by Hurricanes, with the front row and midfield being entirely Hurricanes in all but one example – Marshall picked the Blues’ Ricky Riccitelli over Asafo Aumua at hooker.

Out of those two particular areas, prop Xavier Numia joined Proctor as the only non-All Blacks selected.

The Hurricanes’ scrum dominance made the dynamic Numia’s selection relatively clear-cut, but the question of Proctor’s selection was whether the 24-year-old had been named due to his individual form or his midfield partnership with Jordie Barrett.

“I’d say partnership with Jordie,” Johnson responded for The Breakdown panel. “You do look at the likes of Rieko (Ioane) and he hasn’t put a foot wrong necessarily, but when you look at the cohesiveness that those two (Barrett and Proctor) play with, that’s why I picked him (Proctor) there.”

Johnson’s sentiment was echoed by Marshall, who looked to the Hurricanes’ midfield partnership as a tried and tested option for the next level. He also emphasised the All Blacks No. 13 jersey was Ioane’s to lose.

“I pretty much did a process of elimination to say if Rieko was out, obviously Anton (Lienert-Brown) has been injured a lot, who slots in there? If there’s a crisis, what does that jersey look like? It’s Billy Proctor for me, and the combination (with Barrett) doesn’t hurt,” he said.

“Playing with the likely No. 12 for the All Blacks, having synergy, knowing each other, knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and the way they’ve been defending; I know everyone always likes to look at the razzle-dazzle, but for me, defence wins you games.”

That synergy aspect is also likely to be considered by All Blacks coach Scott Robertson, who has a history of valuing cohesion in his previous Crusaders teams.

Finally, Jeff Wilson explained his selection, noting synergy within the partnership but also Protor’s individual skillset.

“A great scramble defender, Billy Proctor,” Wilson added. “He just continues to work and continues to read situations really well.

“We saw a beautiful step off his right foot to accelerate through a gap against the Fijian Drua which essentially iced the game, it was a beautiful piece of play.

“I look at him and I like the way he’s playing, but we could, over the last seven years, if we were to put down our form 15, there’d be a lot of Crusaders in it, because the team cohesiveness, the way they were playing, the combinations, all of those things add to form and that’s what the Hurricanes have got right now. Whether it’s the front row, whether it’s the midfield backs, it’s those combinations of players.

“They’ve got that synergy, they know what each other can do and that balance between Jordie and Billy is really nice.”