All Blacks: Have selectors made a mistake with Bledisloe Cup squad? – Paul Lewis
Is it a mistake omitting Emoni Narawa and Leicester Fainga’anuku from the All Blacks’ Bledisloe Cup squad?
Sure, Fainga’anuku, as coach Dave Rennie has said, needs more game time – but so does the recently restored Scott Barrett.
In South Africa, the All Blacks had trouble puncturing the Springboks’ defence close in – and whatever Fainga’anuku’s limitations are on defence or as a jack-of-all-trades (master of none), he provides genuine thrust. His hybrid abilities also mean Rennie can construct a potentially damaging impact bench.
Both Narawa and Fainga’anuku are potential centres, where the All Blacks are notably thin at present. It’s as much of a problem as the long, ongoing search for a world-class blindside flanker – plenty of options but no outstanding candidate. The Bledisloe squad contains three second five-eighths in the midfield and a wing/centre in Jordie Barrett, Quinn Tupaea, Timoci Tavatavanawai and Rieko Ioane.
The latter deserves his selection after finding himself during the tour of South Africa and rediscovering his pace, which had seemed to desert him prior to his sabbatical in Ireland. His detractors still argue, however, that his spatial awareness and distribution at centre need work. You’d also have to say that neither the injured Billy Proctor nor the 31-year-old Anton Lienert-Brown have cemented their hold on the No 13 jersey.
So why not include a player like Narawa, who made a pretty good fist of centre when playing for Bay of Plenty against Tasman last weekend? He looked a bit awkward at times on defence, but his attacking play was eye-catching before Tasman got a grip on the match, running away to win 45-26.
Narawa created three of the Bay’s four tries – one a deft kick-pass for the first of Fehi Fineanganofo’s two tries; another beating defenders with his sidestep and a Fijian-style one-handed offload; the third from a pick-and-go at the base of a ruck. It’s NPC, sure, so we can’t be too bullish about Narawa carrying that form two levels up – but he maybe showed enough to be worth a look in the midfield on the end-of-year tour of Scotland and Wales.
As a wing, Narawa is pretty good in the air but has been rated behind Fineanganofo, Leroy Carter, Josh Moorby and Will Jordan – none of whom dealt significantly well with the Boks’ aerial tactics (honourable mention for Jordan). On defence, Carter and Moorby both missed glaring one-on-one tackles during the series.
The end-of-year tour may be the preferred vehicle for re-introducing Fainga’anuku, though Rennie seems, on the surface anyway, not to see him as a midfielder. Here’s Rennie on Fainga’anuku’s versatility earlier this year, pre-injury: “He’s gone well. I’ve been really impressed with the fact that from a work ethic point of view, he’s carrying a lot, he’s stealing a lot of ball and so on.”
“I know there’s a lot to refine there in his game as a seven, but his ability to play out on the edge as a winger or seven gives you genuine versatility in your squad. [If] you pick a six-two [bench] split, you’ve got someone who can generally play at test level out wide. So, yeah, he’s been a point of discussion.”
No mention of the midfield there. Fainga’anuku came on as a flanker for Tasman at halftime but popped up at centre to engineer Macca Springer’s try against the Bay with a pinpoint, left-foot grubber – not the first time he’s demonstrated that skill. Much of his play in France was at second five and, if he can grow his passing and defensive skills, he may yet come into the All Blacks picture.
Tavatavanawai also featured in the Tasman-Bay of Plenty match, moving out to centre in the second half, where he looked less comfortable. He is that much further away from the close-in stuff, where he pulls off some magical turnovers (as does Fainga’anuku), and his distribution skills have a way to go before being truly international standard.
Tavatavanawai, as a wing, lacks the pace for the international arena. As a wing, Fainga’anuku is similar in style to Fineanganofo but has more impactful roving skills, particularly his pick-and-go thrusts from the rucks.
While the All Blacks don’t yet seem convinced by Fainga’anuku’s midfield abilities, surely a coaching job could address his midfield defensive and positional responsibilities, just as Tavatavanawai needs work on his distribution.
Either way, it seems both may be competing for the same hybrid/impact role in the All Blacks.
Paul Lewis writes about rugby, cricket, league, football, yachting, golf, the Olympics and Commonwealth Games.