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'Is Sam an impact player?': Pundits deliver verdict on All Blacks locking duo

Sam Whitelock. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

One of the few crinkles that need ironing out in the All Blacks‘ World Cup selection is how best to manage Brodie Retallick, Sam Whitelock and Scott Barrett.

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All three players are certain selections in the matchday 23 but three does not fit into two which leaves one of those locks on the All Blacks bench.

Retallick and Whitelock are the world’s most experienced locking partnership but the bruising form of Crusaders captain Scott Barrett threatens to break up that legendary partnership, and after two outings in the No 5 jersey to start 2023, Barrett is proving difficult to demote.

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Whitelock has returned from injury though which makes the upcoming Bledisloe Test a moment of truth for selectors.

Previously, Barrett’s name has been suggested as an option at blindside flanker for the Rugby World Cup and while the middle Barrett brother has looked promising in his few recent showings in the No 6 jersey, Shannon Frizell has done everything in his power to make that position his own two games into The Rugby Championship.

Moving any of the three locks to the bench feels criminal given their status, but something’s got to give.

“I’m a big fan of Sam Whitelock obviously and probably surprised we didn’t see him out there,” James Parsons said on the Aotearoa Rugby Pod. “But tip of the hat to Brodie (Retallick) and Scott Barrett.

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“93% (lineout success) against a Springbok side with that tall pack, and to the throwers of course. Man, you can’t leave Brodie out, his stats, he was 65% in gain-line carries. You need that to win a World Cup so you have to think he’s a lock.

“Barrett’s similar, so between those three and the versatility that Tupou Vaa’i provides, and Josh Lord was pretty effective against Argentina so I can only see set piece getting better because of that competition.”

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Keeping things in context, the Springboks didn’t contest at a number of lineouts which obviously helps that percentage figure, but Barrett and Lord steered the All Blacks to a 90% success rate against Los Pumas the week prior.

It’s a difficult call, but Parsons eventually delivered his verdict on the selection, saying the weekend’s performers have earned their place, for now.

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“Based on the weekend, you’ve got to go with the two. Currently.

“I think (Whitelock) is such a smart brain, a lot of that success will be down to the work he’s done during the week. He would have contributed a hell of a lot even though he didn’t play.

“Against tiring opposition and having his experience and nous off the bench, I do think it’s doable. I think he’s just got to get out there and put some runs on the board because we were singing his praises only a few weeks ago around the Crusaders game and how you can’t see an (All Blacks) team without him in it.

“But that competition, if he gets a couple of big performances against the Wallabies, then it’s a tough job for Jason Ryan and co.”

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12 Comments
J
Jon 523 days ago

The third, and as I see last, of the selection dilemmas raised about this team. Following 1st5 and Fullback. Perhaps the toughest? With Frizell's performances though, perhaps the least important.

All choices have shown more frailty than confidence recently. Guzz left NZ after 2019/20 (a la Frizell?) and came back a shadow. Whitelock blew his lid against England and otherwise has never been able to dominate a big side since. Barrett even now is prone to brain explosions and making errors when it matters most. So, they aren't going to go down as greats (as SA fans would have had half there side do before last weekend) but they are still bloody good players, good enough win another WC. Has Frizell, with his recently glimpses of finally being able to bring all his strengths together in his 60 mins, joined this group?

IDK, but they're lacking a super subs even if you were confident they had a surefire 6. Barrett is not really that type. Frizell certainly has shown that style for a while, he'd do some great stuff on D then go missing, or be a cog in attack, then not. He was sucking in the big ones after that fast start, but who could blame him. He didn't completely go missing afterwards.

I kinda like SB starting at 6. He is a gutsy 80 minute player, their best forward. I like the strategic advantage of going more mobile at the end of a game, moving him into lock. I like the ability to go tough, replacing both locks. I don't like to think size is a weakness at the top however, Ireland is going to beat you with game plans, and France with flair and movement. The long game with Ioane does not seemed to have worked. Frizlell is also good 8 cover, and Savea good Cane cover, but I actually wonder if one of those latter pair would be better replaced in a Final. Lock cover is also not currently at the super sub level. Lord's performances could well dictate what happens. Being able to have a young Guzzler on the bench would go a long way to forcing Fosters hand. Or would they be reaching to far, can not they play it safe with a veteran lock in Whitelock and an unknown loosie?

With what the other sides are bringing to the party, perhaps not.

J
Jeremy 523 days ago

Scott Barrett has got to be in there. He is at his physical peak and is like the Retallick of old.

T
Tim 523 days ago

I would bring Whitlock off the bench with 20-25 minutes left as he will be fired up, it also enables him to come back from injury with a lighter run.
Scott Barrett will take over Whitelock when he leaves at the end of the RWC, so he will get more starts to prepare him.
Whitelock is a very good scrummager so he could be part of our own bomb squad.

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T
Tom 1 hour ago
What is the future of rugby in 2025?

Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistol! Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistol! Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistol!


It's incredible to see the boys playing like this. Back to the form that saw them finish on top of the regular season and beat Toulon to win the challenge cup. Ibitoye and Ravouvou doing a cracking Piutau/Radradra impression.


It's abundantly clear that Borthwick and Wigglesworth need to transform the England attack and incorporate some of the Bears way. Unfortunately until the Bears are competing in Europe, the old criticisms will still be used.. we failed to fire any punches against La Rochelle and Leinster which goes to show there is still work to do but both those sides are packed full of elite players so it's not the fairest comparison to expect Bristol to compete with them. I feel Bristol are on the way up though and the best is yet to come. Tom Jordan next year is going to be obscene.


Test rugby is obviously a different beast and does Borthwick have enough time with the players to develop the level of skill the Bears plays have? Even if he wanted to? We should definitely be able to see some progress, Scotland have certainly managed it. England aren't going to start throwing the ball around like that but England's attack looks prehistoric by comparison, I hope they take some inspiration from the clarity and freedom of expression shown by the Bears (and Scotland - who keep beating us, by the way!). Bristol have the best attack in the premiership, it'd be mad for England to ignore it because it doesn't fit with the Borthwick and Wigglesworth idea of how test rugby should be played. You gotta use what is available to you. Sadly I think England will try reluctantly to incorporate some of these ideas and end up even more confused and lacking identity than ever. At the moment England have two teams, they have 14 players and Marcus Smith. Marcus sticks out as a sore thumb in a team coached to play in a manner ideologically opposed to the way he plays rugby, does the Bears factor confuse matters further? I just have no confidence in Borthers and Wiggles.


Crazy to see the Prem with more ball in play than SR!

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J
JW 5 hours ago
Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

In another recent article I tried to argue for a few key concept changes for EPCR which I think could light the game up in the North.


First, I can't remember who pointed out the obvious elephant in the room (a SA'n poster?), it's a terrible time to play rugby in the NH, and especially your pinnacle tournament. It's been terrible watching with seemingly all the games I wanted to watch being in the dark, hardly able to see what was going on. The Aviva was the only stadium I saw that had lights that could handle the miserable rain. If the global appeal is there, they could do a lot better having day games.


They other primary idea I thuoght would benefit EPCR most, was more content. The Prem could do with it and the Top14 could do with something more important than their own league, so they aren't under so much pressure to sell games. The quality over quantity approach.


Trim it down to two 16 team EPCR competitions, and introduce a third for playing amongst the T2 sides, or the bottom clubs in each league should simply be working on being better during the EPCR.


Champions Cup is made up of league best 15 teams, + 1, the Challenge Cup winner. Without a reason not to, I'd distribute it evenly based on each leauge, dividing into thirds and rounded up, 6 URC 5 Top14 4 English. Each winner (all four) is #1 rank and I'd have a seeding round or two for the other 12 to determine their own brackets for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. I'd then hold a 6 game pool, home and away, with consecutive of each for those games that involve SA'n teams. Preferrably I'd have a regional thing were all SA'n teams were in the same pool but that's a bit complex for this simple idea.


That pool round further finalises the seeding for knockout round of 16. So #1 pool has essentially duked it out for finals seeding already (better venue planning), and to see who they go up against 16, 15,etc etc. Actually I think I might prefer a single pool round for seeding, and introduce the home and away for Ro16, quarters, and semis (stuffs up venue hire). General idea to produce the most competitive matches possible until the random knockout phase, and fix the random lottery of which two teams get ranked higher after pool play, and also keep the system identical for the Challenge Cup so everthing is succinct. Top T2 side promoted from last year to make 16 in Challenge Cup

207 Go to comments
J
JW 10 hours ago
Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

I had a look at the wiki article again, it's all terribly old data (not that I'd see reason for much change in the case of SA).

Number Of Clubs:

1526

Registered+Unregistered Players:

651146

Number of Referees:

3460

Pre-teen Male Players:

320842

Pre-teen Female Player:

4522

Teen Male Player:

199213

Teen Female Player:

4906

Senior Male Player:

113174

Senior Female Player:

8489

Total Male Player:

633229

Total Female Player:

17917


So looking for something new as were more concerned with adults specifically, so I had a look at their EOY Financial Review.

The total number of clubs remains consistent, with a marginal increase of 1% from 1,161 to 1,167. 8.1.

A comparative analysis of verified data for 2022 and 2023 highlights a marginal decline of 1% in the number of female players, declining from 6,801 to 6,723. Additionally, the total number of players demonstrates an 8% decrease, dropping from 96,172 to 88,828.

So 80k+ adult males (down from 113k), but I'm not really sure when youth are involved with SAn clubs, or if that data is for some reason not being referenced/included. 300k male students however (200k in old wiki data).


https://resources.world.rugby/worldrugby/document/2020/07/28/212ed9cf-cd61-4fa3-b9d4-9f0d5fb61116/P56-57-Participation-Map_v3.pdf has France at 250k registered but https://presse-europe1-fr.translate.goog/exclu-europe-1-le-top-10-des-sports-les-plus-pratiques-en-france-en-2022/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp has them back up at 300k registered.


The French number likely Students + Club, but everyone collects data different I reckon. In that WR pdf for instance a lot of the major nations have a heavily registered setup, were as a nation like England can penetrate into a lot more schools to run camps and include them in the reach of rugby. For instance the SARU release says only 29% of schools are reached by proper rugby programs, where as the 2million English number would be through a much much higer penetration I'd imagine. Which is thanks to schools having the ability to involve themselves in programs more than anything.


In any case, I don't think you need to be concerned with the numbers, whether they are 300 or 88k, there is obviously a big enough following for their pro scenes already to have enough quality players for a 10/12 team competition. They appear ibgger than France but I don't really by the lower English numbers going around.

207 Go to comments
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LONG READ What is the future of rugby in 2025? What is the future of rugby in 2025?
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