Sports After Dark

The much vilified rotation policy of 2007 was intended to build depth for the All Blacks, but with injuries to two key forwards, it would seem the talent pool isn’t as deep as we thought.

After losing both Ali Williams and Richie McCaw in the first half of the test against England, the All Blacks showed a great deal of courage and character to fight back from adversity and put in a convincing performance, but now that McCaw is out for the Tri-Nations opener against South Africa and Williams is in doubt, the focus has come on to who can replace these senior players.

Having a once in a generation player like McCaw in the ranks has meant that many promising openside flankers have left New Zealand for big money overseas, knowing that their chance of wearing the black jersey is slim. And now that McCaw is injured, the loss of players like Marty Holah and Craig Newby is being felt.

It would appear that McCaw’s replacement will be Chris Masoe, who has played just two games of club rugby since the Hurricanes lost their Super 14 semi final. But it’s not just Masoe’s lack of game time that is a concern, he has been tried at international level before and has not really stood out against top opposition. Sure he played well against Portugal and Romania, but up against top opensiders like George Smith and Schalk Berger he has been found wanting.

But if not Masoe, then who? Daniel Braid played well for the Blues, but seems to have fallen out of favour, Tanirau Latimer and Thomas Waldrom are good Super 14 players but no more, so it would seem that the All Blacks are stuck with Masoe, or perhaps playing Rodney So’oialo out of position.

In 2007 the All Blacks had an embarrassment of riches at lock, with Chris Jack and Ali Williams as the incumbents, and Jason Eaton, James Ryan and Ross Filipo breathing down their necks. This year New Zealand rugby got Brad Thorn back form league, but lost Jack to the Northern Hemisphere, Ryan to retirement and it would seem Filipo and Eaton are not in the All Blacks picture, with both currently playing for New Zealand Maori.

With those players gone, and Williams in doubt, the cover is Anthony Boric and Kevin O’Neil, neither of whom screams “future international star”, especially when the Tri-Nations already features some of the world’s best locks like Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha and Nathan Sharpe.

So perhaps the All Blacks are lacking in some key positions right now, or perhaps Masoe and Boric will surprise everyone and completely dominate their opponents. But this depth problem is a temporary one as some bright young players are set to make their way through the ranks.

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The Injuries expose All Blacks lack of depth at key positions by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.