Why Zinzan Brooke has got it wrong about Lions back rower Taulupe Faletau
Zinny thinks Taulupe Faletau lacks “mongrel edge” – but Lee Calvert argues the Bath and Wales number 8 is more than good enough without it.
As the Aviva Premiership season limped towards its predictable playoffs line-up this week, one player’s performance stood out and forced the Lions’ waiting hosts to take notice. Taulupe Faletau.
It’s been a difficult couple of weeks for New Zealand as they try to process the news that their terrifyingly good captain and number 8 Kieran Read is injured and a chance to miss at least one, if not all, of the Lions Tests. This is on top of some doubt over Jerome Kaino. While replacements have never been an issue for All Black teams generally – after all, any team that can allow Stephen Donald to win a World Cup must have quite a system in place – there will be some modicum of worry that two of their starting back row are shaky.
At this difficult time, step forward Taulupe Faletau of Bath, Wales and the 2017 Lions, who scored a hat-trick in his club’s demolishing of their west country rivals and inexplicable shambles Gloucester. This latest performance merely cemented his excellence in a season that, let’s not forget, he missed a large chunk of due to injury, including most of the Six Nations.
It is perhaps no coincidence that the timing of the injury to Read aligned with Faletau’s brilliance led All Black legend Zinzan Brooke to cast doubt on the Lions eight’s value.
“Someone who I do have reservations about is Welsh loose forward Taulupe Faletau,” Brooke said in column for allblacks.com.
“It’s not that he isn’t a good player, he just isn’t a key player. He’s one of these guys that is pretty much good at everything, but doesn’t have that mongrel edge. To translate what Zinzan is saying here: “he’s good, but he’s not enough of an arsehole”. Does he have a point?
Zinzan is a great of the game, a hugely talented player that brought a lot more that simply being a bastard on the field. At heart he is an Old School Rugby Man™. These men have many tales of physical atrocity to regale the after dinner circuit with. Stuff like, “I remember the time Johnno punched me in the cock 12 times in the ruck so I fish-hooked him and used his face like a bowling ball.” Or “Fitzy once pulled a bloke’s heart out of his chest and held it in front of the bloke’s face so he could see how black it was before he died. We laughed about that for ages.”
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In their day, forwards in particular simply had to be arseholes to get the job done, otherwise they would have been trampled by their opponents like a rampaging horde of barbarians.
Rugby today still needs some element of this, of course, but the balance of a team is far more important. Faletau may be as far removed from the archetypal nasty bastard as it’s possible to be, but that does not diminish his key role in each of his teams.
Faletau is perhaps a victim of making the game look too easy. He rarely looks out of breath, he never grimaces and he is generally a quiet and serene presence on the field. Usually he looks like he is gently floating in a swimming pool with a mimosa rather than running into other very large men at high speed.
But do not fall into the trap of assuming this reduces his effort or effectiveness. He’s a magnificent athlete who consistently breaks the gainline, which he can do either using his force or his sublime feet. He is ever-present in defence, both in the line and in cover. He wins his fair share of turnovers, has a magnificent engine and, as he demonstrated at the weekend, can get over the tryline as well. He has been the first name on the teamsheet for Wales for a number of years for these very reasons.
Some players need to be an arsehole or at least become that character on the field in order to perform. Maro Itoje is increasingly assuming this role for club and country and is thriving on it. Faletau does not, he simply gets on with being the most important player in the fifteen.
Perhaps most importantly, it is impossible to intimidate him. Sledge him and he will remain impassive, come at him physically and he will outdo you in most things, give him a sly dig and he will phlegmatically ignore it. All of which will lead to the same outcome: an excellent performance from a supremely talented player. “Mongrel edge” has little to do with it.
Zinzan and the rest of New Zealand would do well to take that into consideration.
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Comments on RugbyPass
I 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.
7 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.
55 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.
7 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 commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
7 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
55 Go to comments