LONG READ How the All Blacks can turn the curse of versatility into a blessing

Versatility is a double-edged sword. Ask Austin Healey of Leicester, England and the British & Irish Lions, or Reece Hodge of the Melbourne Rebels and Australia. Between them the pair won 114 caps for their countries over 13 years, while playing every single position in the backline. Healey started at 9 and 10 for England and played everywhere in the back three; Hodge ran on for the Wallabies at all the spots from outside-half to full-back. They were the Swiss Army pen-knives for the teams they represented, able to do any job that was required of them.

Versatility always kept Healey and Hodge in the national reckoning, but it also hamstrung their efforts to establish themselves as the number one in any particular spot. They were simultaneously too good to leave out and too expert at multitasking to settle down. Caveat Emptor: rugby careers can live or die by the word versatility.

Healey was dropped from the England squad which went on to win the 2003 World Cup after playing a pivotal role in the team’s development. At the squad announcement, head coach Clive Woodward observed:

“The biggest thing everyone has got to get their minds around is that I’m not taking a squad of utility players, and we must have the best 22 available for the key games. Austin has had almost a year out [with injury] and although he has done very well, he has not quite done enough to be selected.”

Healey’s red rose lifetime came to an end in 2003, and Hodge last represented the green-and-gold 20 years later. If they were in their prime now, their stock value would have boomed. With the popularity of the 6/2 bench split and Springbok supremo ‘Rassie’ Erasmus tinkering latterly with a 7/1, the value of the utility player is rising quicker than the price of crude oil. Versatility is becoming rugby’s very own bull market.

One of the primary reasons for Scott Robertson’s sudden downfall as head coach of the All Blacks was a failure to adapt to trend. While Rassie stretched the envelope on bench splits, and experimented with forwards who could play as backs and backs who could adjust to roles up front, ‘Razor’ stuck rigidly to a 5/3 split and never appeared to consider the possibility of hybrid players.

New Zealand had fallen behind South Africa in the global arms race, and it was not a good look for a nation so used to being at the cutting edge of innovation. Now there is a change in the air, and one or two tell-tale signs that the Land of the Long White Cloud is ready to throw open its doors and embrace the globalization of the rugby economy.

When he left for RC Toulon and life in the Top 14 at the end of 2023, Leicester Fainga’anuku was a wing who occasionally dabbled with centre. By the time he returned to the Crusaders for the current Super Rugby Pacific season, he was a centre who could spend time profitably in the back row, and Fainga’anuku was liking the new growth to his game. He had bulked up to 115 kilos on the Côte d’Azur:

“With my shift to France, I became mainly a midfielder/loose forward. I’m always trying to grow my toolbox and grow my game and just have a point of difference out on the field. I think spending that time in France really helped me grow that.”

Fainga’anuku’s ability to shift from centre into the loose forwards opens up a new world of possibility for the All Blacks, let alone the Crusaders. You can split 6/2 on the pine and effectively have a seventh forward in the mix.

That in turn meant the creation of a new role for Fainga’anuku when he returned to red-and-black colours. Crusaders attack coach James Marshall described his role thus in pre-season:

“Realistically, it’s probably going to be him starting in the backs, and instead of having two loose forwards on the bench, you’ve got one loose forward coming off the bench and Leicester moving in [to the back-row], and it frees up a bit more backs space on the bench.

“He does love it, he’s good over the ball. You look at his game and a lot of his strengths are around what a loose forward’s strengths are. Good over the ball, leg drive, carry ability, such a tough man to tackle. He’s excited about it, and I know he played a lot of it late on in games in France.”

Head coach Rob Penney was keen to talk about the ongoing Leicester project after his side’s crushing 69-26 win over the Fijian Drua in round eight.

“He’s such a tiger, and he loves it. It’s not as if we’re putting him in there [in the back-row] against his will. He’s very much part of that discussion. He’s literally a hybrid and he was always part of the conversation. That’s probably [his] superpower – his ability to be physical and dominate with subtle touches on the edges of that. He’s a great acquisition for us.”

Fainga’anuku’s ability to shift from centre into the loose forwards opens up a new world of possibility for the All Blacks, let alone the Crusaders. You can split 6/2 on the pine and effectively have a seventh forward in the mix. You can stay 5/3 and play Leicester as a sixth forward while still enjoying generous coverage in the backline. The potential is off the charts.

Against the Drua, Rob Penney replaced a No.7 [Johnny Lee] with an inside back [Rivez Reihana] in the 59^th minute, with Fainga’anuku shifting into the back-row in the process. The ex-Toulonnais won two pilfers on the deck in his new role in the last quarter of the game, while still carrying with all the power of a traditional eighth man:

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— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) April 6, 2026

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— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) April 6, 2026

‘Boomfa!’ as Justin Marshall phrases it so eloquently. Leicester’s only concession to the demands of his new role was to don a protective black hat, and it did not diminish his impact on the game.

In his other life as a centre earlier in the match, Fainga’anuku had already shown unsuspected nuance as a playmaker to hitch to his undoubted power-carrying wagon, with three try-assists off either the left boot or the left hand:

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— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) April 6, 2026

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— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) April 6, 2026

A right-sided Jordie Barrett is able to offer triple threat on the run, kick and pass from 12, and Leicester is willing to do the same from centre off the left hand and/or boot. Fainga’anuku has extra talents as a late-game loose forward, and Jordie can cover the back three and even 10. What’s not to like in that combination for the All Blacks? It offers the last word in flexibility.

On the other side of the rugby world, Leinster were doing Dave Rennie an inadvertent favour while sorting through their own impressive bunch of versatile backs in the round-of-16 in the European Champions Cup. Jamie Osborne has already played every position bar nine or 10 in the full Ireland backline at the tender age of only 24, but when he settled in at second five-eighth with 20 minutes to play, with veteran Robbie Henshaw outside him and Rieko Ioane moving to the left wing, everything clicked into place down the left side of the Leinster attack.

That is the flip-side of versatility, the need to have a clear and unimpeded view of a player’s optimal position even when he can cover a plethora of different roles. Leicester Fainga’anuku’s is 13, Osborne’s looks like it will be 12, Rieko Ioane’s is 11. When Ioane shifted back to left wing as I recently suggested, his offensive game came alive and everything he touched turned to gold:

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— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) April 6, 2026

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— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) April 6, 2026

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— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) April 6, 2026

Ioane’s speed and footwork creates two tries directly, and a deft chip ahead looks odds-on to make a score out of the third opportunity just before the end of the game. Leinster may well stick with this arrangement at the pointy end of the Champions Cup, and it could gesture towards Ioane’s future in Dave Rennie’s brand-new All Blacks later in the year.

Positional versatility has never been more valuable in the professional game than it is right now. The ability to cover multiple backline spots, or even better, to translate from forward to back or vice-versa is at a premium with the new, more ambitious bench splits pioneered by Springbok supremo Erasmus.

New Zealand may just have unearthed the treasures they sorely lacked in the Razor era, with Ioane shifting back to wing at Leinster and Fainga’anuku succeeding at the hybrid role in Canterbury in the last quarter of matches. Both should be leading contenders for the silver fern in Rennie’s brave new world. Select them in the right spot and watch them fly. Fainga’anuku summarized the potential crisply: “Just put me wherever and I’ll hopefully get the job done. I’m a simple man.”