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‘Would be in the All Blacks’: Commentator’s take on Du’Plessis Kirifi
By Finn Morton
Commentator Ken Laban believes Wellington Lions captain Du’Plessis Kirifi was on the cusp of an All Blacks call-up before last weekend’s Test in Japan. While that speaks volumes about Kirifi’s standing in New Zealand, the broadcaster also provided a worrying update.
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Kirifi was sensational during Saturday’s 23-20 win over Bay of Plenty in one of the greatest National Provincial Championship (NPC) Finals there has ever been. The skipper carried the ball 12 times and made the equal-most tackles out of any player with 27 stops.
It was the type of performance the Lions needed from their captain, as they dug deep in a 100-minute war to determine the victor. Replacement Callum Harkin scored what ended up being the match-winning penalty goal in the 93rd minute in an extra-time thriller.
As rain poured down from the heavens, Kirifi had the honour of raising the NPC trophy for the second time in three seasons. It was a moment of triumph, celebration and relief as the table-toppers from the regular season capped off a season worthy of silverware.
The All Blacks kicked off their clash with Japan about 90 minutes later, with Hurricanes and Wellington loose forward Pater Lakai debuting during that Test in Yokohama. But, as Laban suggested, that could’ve been Kirifi as the backrower continued to knock at the All Blacks’ door.
“He’s a terrific leader, physical guy, compromising guy, tough as teeth in the contact zone. I don’t have any doubt that had it not been for Peter Lakai, he would be in the All Blacks,” Laban said on SENZ’s The Run Home.
“But I don’t know the future for Du’Plessis now given his age. When I spoke to him last, he was thinking about that he’s been in New Zealand for a long time as well and thinking about opportunities offshore.
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“A terrific leader, one guy who leads from the front, doesn’t he? And I know from what the boys have told me what he’s like Monday to Friday, they just said he’s an amazing personality in the team, as is Brad Shields.”
But, whether or not Kirifi goes on to play for the All Blacks or moves overseas is a conversation for another day. Kirifi is currently away on tour with the All Blacks XV, which just goes to show that the Lions’ inspirational skipper is on the verge of even higher honours.
The All Blacks XV kick off their two-match tour in Europe against Munster this weekend. Kirifi is one of 17 forwards in the mix for the upcoming clash, which includes four reinforcements who have only just been called into the representative squad.
While Kirifi’s international career is potentially ahead of him, another big talking point from the NPC Final was the standout performances from two former All Blacks. Julian Savea stole the show with two first-half tries, and Hika Elliot was impressive off the bench.
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It was like the Julian Savea of old. ‘The Bus’ ran over defenders with an unwavering sense of self-belief, determination and brutality to cross for five-pointers in the third and 32nd minutes. While the winger was quieter from then on, those highlights will live online forever.
“100 minutes of footy, and as you would expect, it was the 20 minutes of extra time that added drama and controversy in itself,” Laban reflected.
“I actually thought it was the day of the veterans in some respects. Who would’ve thought that the game that we saw from Julian Savea was still there given the kind of innuendo and things that have been said.
“A try on the right wing and then one on the left wing, as well as a couple of strong carries in the middle, and the boys were obviously able to hang on.
“For Bay of Plenty, in a lot of ways it was almost a bigger victory for Bay of Plenty – I know they’ll find it hard to see that at the moment… they’re well and truly going to believe that they’re going to be a contender every year now.
“They’ll be wounded by that defeat on the weekend, and that old saying ‘you’ve got to lose one to win one’ and they will know how close they got to be 20-all at full-time to force extra-time.
“They’re going to be there or thereabouts in 2025.”
Kirifi should have been given a go a couple of seasons ago but we keep doing the rounds with the same people and getting the same performances. Good enough is big enough and no other seven has outperformed him for some time now, unless you count another unwanted seven - Billy Harmon.
I think he could fill in short term and do the job adequately. Too many players that offer a bit more ahead of him though.
Kirifi is great at stealing turnovers and has a huge engine, but he lacks discipline and his in-your-face attitude could be an issue at test level for some referees.
Men like Brian Lochore and Murray Mexted back in the amateur era were well over six foot, respectively six three and six four.
I'm sure other countries would love the Allblacks to have a shrunken down back row but it's just not viable in the modern age of professional tier one international test rugby.
At five eleven it doesn't matter how good he is Kirifi going to get smashed against the big packs of France, Ireland, Argentina, England and the Boks.
The Allblack back row has been shrinking in size for the last two world cup cycles and the losses have piled up and the ranking slipping.
Nailed on starters in Cane and Savea have both been starting when if the Allblacks were properly professional they'd only start one or the other, bizarrely the Allblacks have now decided they need a third smallish guy to start in Sititi when again they can only afford one.
Size matters and it's time the Allblacks got some minimum size back into the backrow, the tight five is decent but that loose forward trio is way out of balance and subbing more small guys too it will be a terrible decision.
They were number eights and played a totally different role. Too big is too slow for the way we've always played and our seven needs to be quick.
Kirifi is simply too small for test rugby. He is not even 6’0”.
Same size (slightly heavier) than Kwagga Smith. And not far off Michael Hooper, so size isn't an issue.
He shouldn't worry, Samoa will snap him up for their increasingly Kiwi squad before 2027.