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All Blacks 'underestimated' Wallace Sititi as breakout year continues

By Ben Smith at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham
Wallace Sititi of New Zealand runs with the ball during the Autumn Nations Series match between England and New Zealand All Blacks at the Allianz Stadium on November 02, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

The All Blacks breakout star Wallace Sititi announced his arrival in Europe with a barnstorming performance against England in the 24-22 win at Allianz Stadium Twickenham.

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The 22-year-old played beyond his years with a faultless and complete display as a back rower. He demonstrated his offloading game, creating the first try of the game for Mark Tele’a, and topping the charts with four total.

He also made the most most line breaks in the game (three), second most carries (16), the most running metres while adding nine tackles on defence and strip steal turnover.

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His explosive acceleration caused problems from England all over the park, whether roaming out wide in the tramlines or up the middle.

Firstly, I think we just underestimated what sort of a person is, but the way he performs, the way he prepares, and he’s well above his years and maturity,” Robertson said of his No 6. 

“And, you know, confidence on the field, just to make the right decision continuously is incredible. Just keep stepping up, rising up, and I’m not sure he’s gonna have anything to do with the bottle of Bollinger. He might give that away, but he deserved it.”

Player Line Breaks

1
Wallace Sititi
3
2
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso
2
3
Mark Tele'a
2

Sititi watched the All Blacks play England during the July series from the sidelines as a squad reserve but after debuting against Fiji he has quickly become one of stories of the year.

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Handed the No 6 jersey for the second Test in South Africa, Sititi starred against the Springboks pack before continuing his form against the Wallabies.

Despite playing No 8 during Super Rugby Pacific for the Chiefs, it seems that Robertson and his coaching staff have found an answer to the hole left by the departure of Shannon Frizell.

The All Blacks coaching staff have continued to iterate that they see the loose forward roles as interchangeable requiring flexibility, which Sititi provides.

Sititi may well have cemented his nomination as this year’s World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year, won by teammate Mark Tele’a in 2023.

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The two-try hero praised the skills of Sititi after they combined to unlock England’s defence early.

“He’s skilful man, all of them are really skilful, when you get offloads like that as a winger you just try to finish it off,” Tele’a said of his first try.

“You just got to stay on around them, credit to Wallace (Sititi) and all of the other boys who are able to do that.

“Credit to Wallace, not a lot of players can do that.”

Player Carries

1
Ben Earl
18
2
Wallace Sititi
16
3
Will Jordan
14

Sititi said his dynamic play comes down to having the freedom to explore and try things, something Scott Robertson reminded the press that he wants the team to do, despite the lack of execution in the first half.

The All Blacks created a number of opportunities that went begging, but ultimately the persistence paid off with three tries to England’s one in the two-point victory.

“I think when we play “backyard footy” that’s when New Zealanders are at their best,” Sititi said.

“Tried to make the most of every chance, didn’t get a few of those right but it’s just about enjoying it, relaxing and playing our game.

“Credit to the boys around me, they give me the license to do what I do, play the game the way I know how to play it.

“Coming to an environment like Twickenham it’s about keeping your mind focused and keeping the game simple.”

Watch the exclusive reveal-all episode of Walk the Talk with Ardie Savea as he chats to Jim Hamilton about the RWC 2023 experience, life in Japan, playing for the All Blacks and what the future holds. Watch now for free on RugbyPass TV

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1 Comment
R
Red and White Dynamight 16 days ago

Superstar, something of the Michael Jones about him.

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JW 51 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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