Baptism of fire draws near for young All Blacks tightheads

Entering the July series with Ireland, the All Blacks selectors would have been feeling relatively confident with the tightheads at their disposal but that confidence will have been eroded significantly heading into the opening two rounds of the Rugby Championship.

Nepo Laulala, Ofa Tuungafasi and Angus Ta’avao were the three tighthead props named in the first All Blacks squad of the year and while there were a few concerned rumblings from the public regarding various aspects of each of the three’s games, the general opinion was that all players were ‘safe’ options, without anyone expecting them to set the world alight.

Laulala is the best scrummaging No 3 in the country while Tuungafasi was New Zealand’s best-performing tighthead throughout Super Rugby Pacific – even if he did have a few hiccups in the final rounds of the competition. Ta’avao, meanwhile, was building into some good form after an injury-affected start to the season with Chiefs.

The performances of all three throughout July, however, were mixed – to say the least.

Still, heading into a do-or-die two-match series with the Springboks in South Africa, the All Blacks coaches would have been expecting their trio of experienced tightheads to put their ample test caps to good use and up their game against the world champions.

As it turns out, that’s not going to be possible.

Neither Nepo Laulala nor Ofa Tuungafasi will travel to the Republic due to injury concerns, which has seen the inexperienced duo of Tyrel Lomax and Fletcher Newell called into the squad and at least one of those players will run out against the Springboks in Mbombela and Johannesburg.

26-year-old Lomax had his first taste of international action against Japan in 2018 but didn’t feature again until 2020. While he’s now amassed 14 appearances in the black jersey, just three of those caps came in a starting role (twice against Argentina and once against Italy) with the rest off the bench.

22-year-old Newell, meanwhile, has zero caps to his name and only earned his first start at Super Rugby level for the Crusaders earlier this season.

While Lomax’s game has been up and down over the past few years – especially at scrum-time – Newell has shown plenty of promise in his limited professional appearances to date, but is still incredibly wet behind the ears.

Will the All Blacks be able to count on the two young tightheads to front up against a massive Springboks pack, boasting world-class looseheads such as Ox Nche and Steven Kitshoff?

Complicating matters is the fact that Angus Ta’avao received a three-game suspension following a reckless tackle made in the second test against Ireland.

Ta’avao has already sat out two matches, the final test against Ireland and Auckland’s pre-season fixture with Hawke’s Bay and if he has completed the optional coaching intervention programme, then he will be available for the first test against the Springboks. It would be an unusual development if Ta’avao hasn’t completed said programme but either way, the 32-year-old won’t exactly be match fit for the All Blacks’ opening game of the Rugby Championship, having only mustered half an hour of match-day minutes since the Chiefs fell to the Crusaders in their Super Rugby Pacific semi-final on 10 June, almost two months before the August 6 fixture with South Africa.

Whatever the case, the All Blacks will be entering that fixture with their second-choice loosehead, George Bower, wearing the No 1 jersey and at best their third-choice tighthead prop wearing the No 1.

It will be a massive challenge for the props selected to take on the Springboks – as well as all the men around them and new forwards coach Jason Ryan – in one of rugby’s toughest cauldrons.