What the All Blacks need to do to come away with a win in South Africa this weekend. NZ Herald's Liam Napier and Newstalk ZB's D'Arcy Waldegrave give their take.
THREE KEY FACTS
All Blacks coach Scott Robertson has named a new-look side for the second test against South Africa.
The Springboks came from behind to claim victory in the first test at Ellis Park.
Robertson succeeded Ian Foster after last year’s World Cup final loss to the same opponents.
Gregor Paul is one of New Zealand’s most respected rugby writers and columnists. He has won multiple awards for journalism and written several books about sport.
OPINION
It’s taken a bit oftime, longer than expected certainly, but Scott Robertson has at last picked the sort of young, freewheeling, next-generation All Blacks team that many felt would be the hallmark of his tenure.
Mark this down as the moment when the Robertson era truly separated itself from the Ian Foster era – the point at which the All Blacks of 2027 started to take shape.
Caution has been thrown to the wind in Cape Town – youth is being given its head, and whether the various selection changes Robertson has made prove to be the right ones this weekend is not so much the question, because this looks, with a few exceptions, like a team being built with the future as much as the present in mind.
Injury has dictated some of the selections, but go through the team unit by unit, player by player, and it starts to feel a long way removed from the All Blacks 23 that played in the World Cup final.
It is a team that feels more likely to fulfil Robertson’s pitch to bring a new flavour and innovation to the All Blacks because it contains combinations that are an intriguing mix of old and new, and by dint of dropping the vastly experienced Beauden Barrett and TJ Perenara, it contains a veiled warning to other veterans that they need to perform.
The headline news is that two big names have been dropped to the bench, there has been a major reshuffle of the back three and a bit of punch added to the backrow.
The arrival of Wallace Sititi gives the forwards a genuinely punchy ball-carrier and stop-them-dead tackler.
The 21-year-old Sititi, the youngest player in the squad, was a constant source of surprise throughout Super Rugby, getting better and more influential the deeper his Chiefs side went into the competition.
His power was undeniable in the way he was able to run over the top of defenders, and the All Blacks want – desperately need – a bit of that explosiveness in Cape Town.
It was a strong defensive effort from the All Blacks at Ellis Park, but it was one that lacked an element of destruction and dominant tackles.
It would be harsh to describe the defence as passive, but it was crying out for someone to hit a South African body so hard as to dislodge the ball or send them hurtling backward and break the momentum.
Sititi, despite his age and lack of experience, has the size, presence and mindset to produce the sort of one-off hits that can not only change the dynamic of the game quickly and dramatically but also be psychologically influential.
Picking Sititi’s Chiefs teammate Cortez Ratima to start is probably confirmation that there is now a changing of the guard underway at halfback.
Cortez Ratima will start at halfback in Cape Town. Photo / Photosport
There’s a strong argument to be made that it makes strategic sense, in the wake of last week’s final-quarter collapse, to use the veteran Perenara off the bench rather than start with him as was the case in Johannesburg, to utilise his experience and energy late in the game.
And while that is true, it may be more likely that the selectors feel they have given Perenara enough opportunity to not be accused of unfairly or too hastily dispensing with a senior and highly respected player.
Or, in other words, Perenara, after being given a reasonable run in the jersey, has played his way out of the starting team.
Ratima, who with only five caps behind him and not an enormous amount of Super Rugby experience either, carries a risk factor, but so too does he carry an excitement factor and the All Blacks, it feels, need to commit entirely to building a new generation of halfbacks and get on with that process now.
And perhaps the same argument could be made at fullback where Will Jordan usurps Barrett, as much because the former is the country’s best long-term option in that position, as it is because the latter had a strangely error-ridden game at Ellis Park.
Barrett, it has to be assumed, surpassed expectation earlier in the season when he twice came off the bench against England to save the day.
His cameos were so compelling as to make the selectors feel they needed to use him for 80 minutes rather than 30, but now that Jordan has more minutes behind him and the All Blacks bench lacked impact last week, the time has been deemed right to make the switch.
It all makes sense – Jordan will offer a different threat in attack, and while he may lack Barrett’s accuracy and bravery under the high ball, the Boks will be wary about over-kicking to the All Blacks backfield for fear of what could happen on the counter-attack.
Being used off the bench is likely now to be Barrett’s usual fate, and while it may not be a role that he would choose for himself, it is one that he has a long and proven history of being particularly good at.
