LONG READ How will Scott Robertson shuffle his backline pack for the Rugby Championship?

If there is anything New Zealand rugby wants to avoid now, it is a repeat of the anguish of the Ian Foster saga, in those three navel-gazing years between 2020 and 2022. The melodrama linked to the selection of the All Blacks’ backline is one legacy ‘Razor’ Robertson would happily pass up.

Ahead of the 2023 World Cup, it took a whole lot of time and some seismic see-sawing, plus the arrival of Joe Schmidt as attack coach, to provide some clarity and mould the back-line that eventually pitched up in France. As the debates sharpened on a knife-edge between March 2022 and June the following year, I found myself writing no less than 10 separate articles on Rugby Pass+.

They ranged across all aspects of the discussion: there were a couple written exactly 12 months apart, on the breathless priming of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck for the #12 jersey in time for the start of the World Cup, and another lauding Anton Lienert-Brown’s value as a ‘glue’ player in the mould of Conrad Smith. https://www.rugbypass.com/plus/times-running-out-as-the-great-roger-tuivasa-sheck-debate-rages-on/ [March 2023] was the last of four pieces pushing the claims of Jordie Barrett to shift from full-back to second five-eighth in the All Blacks.

At the time, New Zealand appeared to be obsessed with cramming as much X-factor on to the pitch as possible, and it tended to ignore players who played a more understated role, doing the dirty work and making those around them look better and more connected, but without demanding the spotlight themselves. The starting midfield for most of the losing 2022 series against Ireland featured two full-backs at first and second five-eighth and a wing at centre. I summarized it in the article as follows:

“For the last six years, New Zealand have increasingly reached towards X-factor, rather than players steeped in the technical and physical demands of play at numbers 10, 12 and 13, to provide the quality in the spots DC [Dan Carter], ‘Rock’ [Ma’a Nonu] and ‘the Snake’ [Conrad Smith] vacated.

They converted a player [Beauden Barrett] who started his international career as a full-back or utility into a number 10, they unearthed an outstanding left wing against the 2017 British & Irish Lions [Rieko Ioane] and recast him as a centre, and they moved a man who had played the majority of his rugby at fullback [David Havili] into second five-eighth.”

Moving Jordie Barrett from 15 to 12 provided the best of all possible solutions. Jordie had the size and the power to be the work-horse runner that Havili and RTS clearly were not cut out to be, and he was a more solid defender to boot. He also offered X-factor via his big offloading and kicking games.

Barrett’s selection at #12 also had an important knock-on effect. It meant committing to a specialist [Richie Mo’unga] at first five-eighth and going back to the future at full-back, by relocating Beauden Barrett to the position he originally occupied when he first entered the Test rugby arena https://www.rugbypass.com/plus/a-tale-of-two-flyhalves/ [June 2023].

With the return of Will Jordan and David Havili, and the addition of Ruben Love to his squad for the Rugby Championship, Razor will enjoy an overflow of multi-positional X-facto

Many of the same selection dilemmas and temptations still exist for Scott Robertson. The Gordian Knot of striking the right balance between X-factor and more ‘glue’ players who promote unit health and well-being is still a live leftover from the Fozzy era. As NBA legend Michael Jordan once pointed out: “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.”

With the return of Will Jordan and David Havili, and the addition of Ruben Love to his squad for the Rugby Championship, Razor will enjoy an overflow of multi-positional X-factor, but how and where will he find the invisible thread of teamwork and intelligence that joins them all together? It is not the flavour of the raw spices, but the blending of them together that counts.

Three positions in the backline will fall under the most intense scrutiny. Incumbent first five-eighth Damian McKenzie is now 29 years-old and he has made eight starts for the All Blacks at #10 compared to 23 at #15; at the age of 27, Rieko Ioane’s starts at centre [25] are still outnumbered by his run-on appearances on the left wing [28]. The 33-year-old version of Beaudy Barrett is expected to come under pressure from Will Jordan at full-back, even though the Crusaders’ man has only made one of 28 Test starts there.

Razor is firmly welded to the idea of Will Jordan as the #15 for a new generation of All Black rugby, a notion I first explored back in May 2023 https://www.rugbypass.com/plus/how-the-crusaders-are-preparing-will-jordan-to-wear-no-15-for-the-all-blacks/ when Robertson was still coaching the Crusaders. These were Razor’s words after the squad announcement for the Rugby Championship:

“He is [first and foremost] a full-back that can play wing, he can cover there.

“We are really fortunate with Beaudy’s form, he’s come in super-hot.

“We have got a game this week for Will, it’s his first game in a long, long time so he’s going to have to perform straight away and own it, [to] get back to a Test match level.

Beaudy is absolute class, and we’ll get him on the field where we can. His quality is ‘you just put me where you need me to be coaches’, and he’s done that so well for us.

Scott Hansen

“I am really big on players playing two positions; their preferred position and another position. Things change really quickly, and the utility factor is critical.”

No problem with multi-positional versatility hypothesis, but is Rieko Ioane really a better centre than Anton Lienert-Brown or Billy Proctor? Would he contribute more from the left wing? If Beauden Barrett is indeed ‘super-hot’, why not accommodate a returning Will Jordan on the right? Which of the pair will glue D-Mac more reassuringly to the #10 hotseat?

Razor’s assistant Scott Hansen unwittingly hinted at the negatives as much as he reinforced the positives when he said:

“Beaudy is absolute class, and we’ll get him on the field where we can.

“His quality is ‘you just put me where you need me to be coaches’, and he’s done that so well for us.

“The way he has led our weeks. The clarity and composure – whether that be at 10 or fullback, the influence he has had on this group has been massive the last three Tests.

“He has the ability to play 10 and lead us around the field as a first ball-player, [but] he also has quality of control as a full-back as well.

“You’ve seen the way we play, it’s very likely Beauden is on one side of the ruck with ‘D-Mac’ [Damian McKenzie] on the other, so we see those roles as having the ability to influence our attack.”

If he’s that good, why move him at all? Especially if Will Jordan’s kicking game from the back is still a work-in-progress, especially if he cannot make play on the opposite side of the ruck as well as Beaudy.

When Barrett entered the fray in the 49^th minute of the second Test against England, the complexion of the game changed completely. On the scoreboard, New Zealand posted the last 11 points of the match to overhaul a 17-13 lead. On the field, Barrett took the game by the scruff of the neck and shook it, until it bled black. D-Mac moved from the centre to the periphery, to second receiver on attack, to full-back in defensive situations. Beaudy was the main man:

When the All Blacks wanted control via the kicking game, their go-to guy was Barrett, not McKenzie:

With D-Mac doing the kicking, big England full-back Freddie Steward was able to mask his relative lack of lateral speed and mobility, with Barrett at first receiver it became impossible to disguise.

In previous seasons for the Chiefs, D-Mac was often at his most lethal when shifting to second receiver outside either Bryn Gatland or Josh Ioane in the late-game, and the same trick worked a treat to turn the tables on England in the final quarter at Eden Park.

The pair also presented a more seamless defensive blanket in the backfield than the starting combo of McKenzie and Stephen Perofeta:

Could Will Jordan have defended with any more athletic dexterity or better footballing instincts? Probably not. You want D-Mac and Beaudy playing as a pair, you want to give them a shot at demonstrating their synergy from the very beginning of games:

For the three years between 2020 and 2022, Fozzy was running at a 65.5% win rate versus opponents from the Rugby Championship and the Six Nations. It was a dark night of the soul for New Zealand rugby. For All Black supporters fed on a rich diet of victory heaped upon victory – 85% plus during the Henry and Hansen years – that was poor pickings indeed.

Although the All Blacks eventually righted the ship before the 2023 World Cup with the help of Joe Schmidt, the same shadowy selection dilemmas remain for new head coach Scott Robertson. The Kiwi back-line is overflowing with talent, especially in the back three, and there will be a strong temptation to include an excess of X-factor players, some of them in sub-optimal positions.

As always, temptation should be resisted. If that means Will Jordan returning to the team as a wing, and Rieko Ioane shifting out one spot from the centre, so be it. Damian McKenzie thrives on the support offered by Beauden Barrett as a playmaker, and as his partner in the defensive backfield. Every brick needs some mortar.

As Baseball hitting legend Babe Ruth explained, “The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club ain’t worth a dime.”

My New Zealand backline for The Rugby Championship: 15. Beauden Barrett 14. Will Jordan 13. Anton Lienert-Brown 12. Jordie Barrett 11. Mark Telea/Rieko Ioane 10. Damian McKenzie 9. Cortez Ratima

RIP Alun Carter

The sad news of Alun Carter’s passing was announced yesterday. He was only 59 years old and he left this world doing what he loved the most, running across the hills on the Blorenge, in his beloved Gwent uplands.

Alun was a work colleague for over 20 years, and we worked together on a Lions tour, in Wales’ first Grand Slam for 27 years, and collaborated on two award-winning books. As a work-mate he was stimulating and sympathetic, but he was an even better friend.

His honesty, loyalty and kindness will be sorely missed by all those fortunate enough to know him in this lifetime. I can still picture him now, always running across some far horizon into the endless distance, always there when you needed him most. Friend for Life.