Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Jeff Wilson picks the All Blacks with the most to prove against Namibia

Beauden Barrett and Damian McKenzie at All Blacks training. Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images

A hurting All Blacks team has traditionally been a dangerous All Blacks team, and given the pain of a record loss to the Springboks failed to produce a win against France, New Zealand now turn to Namibia.

ADVERTISEMENT

Having put 70 points on the Welwitschias at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, expectations are for another heavy victory for the Kiwis.

The men charged with delivering that win are – outside of the hookers – the same forward pack as round one, just reshuffled throughout the 23. The backline is entirely different.

Video Spacer

Video Spacer

With much of the emphasis on the forward pack in recent losses, former All Black Jeff Wilson sees that as the key area for improvement in round two.

“A few guys, particularly up front, I think for Ofa Tu’ungafasi and Nepo Laulala, they should dominate this game,” Wilson told Sky Sport NZ.

“Samisoni Taukei’aho as well. The fact that this experienced front row, the size of that front row should have a real impact on this game.

“They’ve got plenty engine room behind them in terms of their locks, I mean world-class, that combination is back together again in Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick.

ADVERTISEMENT

“so, I don’t think for this forward pack, particularly the tight five, there are any excuses for me. They should go out and dominate and set a platform that this backline, which has got all sorts of talent – you see the return of Caleb Clarke, Leicester Fainga’anuku, Beauden Barrett should get some sort of front foot ball to work off.

“I don’t think there are any excuses for the group now, with all that experience, they have to perform.”

Related

Set piece penalties have been a theme of recent outings for New Zealand, a red card to lock Scott Barrett not helping things against South Africa.

Injuries to the team’s two starting flankers, Shannon Frizell and Sam Cane, have tested the loose forward depth and handed the young Tupou Vaa’i and Dalton Papali’i some extended minutes.

ADVERTISEMENT

Vaa’i has been named on the bench for the Namibia Test alongside Scott Barrett, making for no specialist loose forward cover.

Ethan Blackadder touched down in Lyon this week, joining the team as an injury replacement for Emoni Narawa but won’t feature just yet.

Team Form

Last 5 Games

4
Wins
2
1
Streak
1
21
Tries Scored
6
76
Points Difference
-3
2/5
First Try
4/5
0/5
First Points
5/5
3/5
Race To 10 Points
4/5

While Wilson put the onus on the tight five, his fellow former All Black and pundit Mils Muliaina pointed elsewhere when selecting who needs to put in a big shift against Namibia.

“I think there’s no excuses in terms of our tight five,” he said. “But for me, really, it’s Damian McKenzie.

“I think it’s his game to try and shine. If it was me, I’d put him back to fullback by the end of the game and give him that opportunity”

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

6 Comments
C
CT 433 days ago

Namibia has got this one.

B
Billy 433 days ago

The fact that Nepo and Ofa are in the RWC squad is the biggest sign on how far back is from the front-runners. These two are penalty magnets, do very little in the loose and yet cannot hold against the best in the scrums. My ways of saying that there's nothing they add. At least De Groot is a tackling machine and gainline monster. And Lomax is both those things but can also scrum ...

D
Dave 433 days ago

Trouble is both offa and nepo need to step up big time, not something I've seen either do for quite a while. Interesting to see what sort of impact D Groot and Newel have when they come on.

Load More Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 12 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

303 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ 'Steve Borthwick hung his troops out to dry - he should take some blame' 'Steve Borthwick hung his troops out to dry - he should take some blame'
Search