Why does it always rain All Blacks test debuts when the Pumas are involved?
Blooding newcomers to the test rugby scene is not an easy task.
Although there are some players who take to international rugby like fish to water, most take a little bit of time to find their feet.
For every Rieko Ioane there’s a Francis Saili. For every Lima Sopoaga there’s an Aaron Cruden.
Since Steve Hansen ascended to head coach of the All Blacks, he’s almost rolled out almost 70 new caps. Brodie Retallick, Aaron Smith and Julian Savea all debuted together back in 2012, whilst Sevu Reece will become the latest when he runs out onto José Amalfitani Stadium this weekend.
Given that players aren’t always on the top of their game when they make their first appearances in black, it’s no surprise that Hansen and his fellow selectors have typically opted to blood newcomers against relatively weaker opposition.
New year, new blood
When Reece takes the field, he will become the 10th player to be capped by Steve Hansen’s All Blacks against Argentina.
Assuming that the bench quartet of Atu Moli, Luke Jacobson, Josh Ioane and Braydon Ennor all get to run on at some point, the total number of players capped against Argentina under Hansen’s reign will reach 14.
Until late last year, Argentina had been Hansen’s team of choice to give newbies their first test cap, but Japan then jumped to the top of the table when a hugely inexperienced All Blacks team was rolled out to deal to the Brave Blossoms.
Made famous in Japan
Japan are not a country that the All Blacks face often, but when the two sides do tee off it’s become common for New Zealand to run out a makeshift team full of debutants.
Last year, Mitchell Drummond, Dillon Hunt, Dalton Papalii, Matt Proctor, George Bridge, Gareth Evans, Tyrel Lomax and Brett Cameron all earned their first test cap against the Brave Blossoms. Back in 2013, it was Dominic Bird, Frank Halai, Luke Whitelock and Jeffery Toomaga-Allen that ran out against Japan for their test debuts.
Unless something especially unusual happens, the 12 players blooded against Japan will be surpassed on Sunday morning.
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Tellingly, however, very few of the players who do earn their stripes against Japan have gone on to forge great international careers.
The four who debuted in 2013 have amassed just 10 caps between them (with 7 of those being Whitelock’s). All four are signed with foreign sides for 2020 so won’t be eligible for the All Blacks.
It’s obviously too early to write off last year’s crop, but Hunt and Cameron seemed to fall down the pecking order at their Super Rugby franchises while Gareth Evans has a number of younger loose forward ahead of him around the country. Matt Proctor will be playing in England next year. There’s still plenty of time for the likes of Papalii, Bridge and Lomax to forge successful international careers.
Argentina debutants, on the other hand, have so far proven to be quite successful under Hansen’s current tenure.
Long-term success from Puma debuts
Charlie Faumuina, Nathan Harris and Waisake Naholo all featured at the last World Cup after debuting against the Pumas whilst Codie Taylor and Damian McKenzie have been regular selections since they earned their first caps. Angus Ta’avao has probably already exceeded many people’s expectations and will start another test this weekend and Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi could still see plenty of game time in the future.
David Havili was probably unlucky to miss out on selection in this year’s All Blacks squad, leaving just Francis Saili as the sole ‘disappointment’. Saili could well have spent a number of years in the team, however, if he didn’t decide to head overseas early in his career.
Argentina is evidently just the right level of difficulty to blood newcomers – not a walkover, but a frequent enough opponent that New Zealand has never really been too surprised by what the Argentinians have thrown out on the field.
Wales, Ireland and France, who have all toured New Zealand in the June tests since Hansen took over, have also faced a number of newcomers. France, in particular, have been on hand to blood 10 debutants, courtesy of two tours. Given that these European sides tend to be the first teams that New Zealand faces in a calendar year, it’s not a surprise at all.
It is a bit peculiar that so many players have debuted against Argentina given that the All Blacks don’t tend to face the Pumas until four matches into the year at the earliest. Obviously, the six potential debutants this year will contribute a significant amount to the figure, but this is the only team where the All Blacks have really let loose with the newbies in one fixture. Typically, just one or two players will get their first cap against the Pumas – though that seems to happen like clockwork. The fact that the two nations square off twice every year (World Cup years excluded) obviously plays a big role.
No lambs to the slaughter against Boks
Whilst Argentina help NZ blood the most players, it’s the All Blacks’ number one foes who rarely get to face newbies.
Only two players have made their debuts for the All Blacks against the Springboks in the last eight years: Lima Sopoaga and James Broadhurst. To make for an even tougher baptism, that 2015 match was played at Ellis Park, one of the toughest grounds to travel to.
South Africa have traditionally been one New Zealand’s toughest opponents, so it’s not unusual that few players have to find their feet against the Springboks. Games against South Africa also tend to come a bit later in the season, once the June tests and the first couple of Rugby Championship games are out of the way, so it would be unusual for many uncapped players to still be included in an All Blacks squad by that point in the year.
If the potential debutants all run out this weekend then every player in the current 39-man All Blacks squad will have at least one international match to their name. Whilst it’s not impossible, we’re unlikely to see any further uncapped players join up with the All Blacks this year, meaning this Argentina fixture will be the sole game in which new players are blooded.
Given that the World Cup is just two months away, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Hansen has tried to get the test debuts out of the way early in the year. Some of these newbies are fighting it out for just a few spare spaces in the squad, so they don’t have the luxury of taking their time to find their feet on the international stage that other players have had in previous years.
Argentina may not be the toughest opponents in the world, but five new All Blacks look will find out this weekend that international rugby is a major step up from the matches they’ve become accustomed to.
Comments on RugbyPass
Results probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
1 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
1 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
56 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to comments