Latest All Blacks loose forward selections double down on grit and grind

There’s been some experimentation happening in the All Blacks loose forward trio over the opening Tests of Scott Robertson’s tenure as head coach, and that has continued to begin The Rugby Championship.

First came the Steinlager Series squad selection, when Razor made headlines for the omission of Hoskins Sotutu in favour of Wallace Sititi, and after backing Samipeni Finau to start at blindside flanker against England, Ethan Blackadder has now been backed for the six jersey.

The omission of Finau was confirmed by Robertson to be a simple non-selection, with no injuries to consider.

Blackadder started against Fiji in San Diego and earned plenty of praise for his performance, with the versatile forward proving his immense work rate once more in the black jersey.

Captain for the coming contest Ardie Savea will join the Crusaders forward and starting openside Dalton Papali’i in what he was quick to remind media is a loose forward trio that has played together before.

“I wouldn’t say it’s new, with Scratch (Blackadder) and Papi (Papali’i), I played alongside them during our Covid-19 tour, when we toured overseas,” the captain told media on Thursday.

“They’re hard-working men, they move and they work and they grind, so it’s going to be exciting and will be awesome to play with them two.”

Offering impact off the bench will be rookie Wallace Sititi, fresh off an impressive debut in California. The youngster has made a strong impression on Savea since joining camp.

“Wally’s been awesome, I’m so impressed with how he’s handling himself, how he walks, it’s a true testament to himself and how he’s been brought up.

“He’s really impressed not only myself but many others with how he operates.”

How the team operates is a different question, with a new coaching group cautious not to overwhelm their squad with too much new information. Now with five weeks of training under their belt, Savea says the new gameplan is coming along nicely.

“We understand our game more now and the players who we’re playing with. We’re looking forward to playing the game that we’ve planned to play against a quality Argentina team.”

The game takes place in Savea’s hometown of Wellington, a venue that has proven difficult to win at over the past six years. While that “cold reality” was far from the players’ minds according to Savea, the fact that Savea would no longer be suiting up for the Hurricanes was something the reigning World Rugby Player of the Year was very aware of.

Since the announcement of his move to Moana Pasifika, Wellingtonians appear to have received the news with understanding.

“Actually it’s been all good so far,” he grinned. “Just going to the local cafe, have had a few conversations with some people about it, but it’s been good.”