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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.
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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.
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.”
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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.
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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.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
10 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
81 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
1 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
81 Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
5 Go to commentsOur very own monster teddy bear Ox😍💪
17 Go to commentsThis is might be the most generalised, entitled, patronising, out-of-pocket cultural indictment on a group of people you’ll ever see on what is supposedly a sports publication. I can only assume the author is weak like a woman or homosexual. I’m feeling an incredible range of emotions but I am not quite sure how to express them. I might go beat up a hockey player - assuming that’s okay with Duane and the boys? 🙂
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