Northern Edition

Select Edition

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

'Listen, come to our team': All Black hopeful told to move to bolster selection chance

Levi Aumua of New Zealand waves to the fans during the Killik Cup match between Barbarians and New Zealand All Blacks XV at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on November 13, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)

The All Blacks midfield is a hotly contested positional group but one candidate continues to impress in Super Rugby Pacific as a potential World Cup bolter.

ADVERTISEMENT

Moana Pasifika centre Levi Aumua has been in devastating form and brings size and power unlike any other midfielder in New Zealand.

His damaging running was on show against the Crusaders in Christchurch in round seven where he bulldozed through multiple players to score two tries in the 38-21 loss.

Ahead of the first home game in Samoa against the Reds, Aumua had clocked the most running metres of any centre in the competition with 564, and the third most defenders beaten of any player with 37.

Only All Black winger Mark Telea and teammate Timoci Tavatavanawai have beaten more players in Aumua this season, while Moana Pasifika’s No 13 has logged an impressive eight line breaks.

New Zealand broadcast personality Hamish McKay believed that Aumua does not receive enough attention for his performances in a side that is near the bottom of the ladder.

“About bloody time! Levi Aumua is a game breaker,” he wrote on his social page after Aumua made the back page of the NZ Herald.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We won’t win a Rugby World Cup with steady Eddie’s.”

Former Welsh international Gordon Simpson explained on SENZ’s The Rugby Run radio show that it was in Aumua’s best interests to leave Moana Pasifika for another New Zealand team in order to gain All Black selection.

The 28-year-old was previously with the Blues in 2019 and made four appearances but was stuck behind All Black duo Sonny Bill Williams and Ma’a Nonu.

“Aumua … if you put him in a Crusaders backline or a Blues backline, how much more devastating and how much more ball would he get and how much more explosive?” Simpson told SENZ’s The Rugby Run.

ADVERTISEMENT

“You put him in one of those teams and you’ve got the sort of teams next year possibly looking at him.

“They would be saying, ‘Listen, come to our team, we’ll make you an offer,’ or however it works.

“It just builds his profile and yeah, then you start looking at higher honours.”

Aumua is eligible for multiple nations including Samoa, Fiji and New Zealand but was picked last year in the All Blacks XV.

His selection for the All Blacks XV caused a stir as the Moana Pasifika team was floated as a pathway for Pacific nations to develop international players.

Former All Black midfielder and Moana Pasifika coach Aaron Mauger said at the time that they would support Aumua’s ambitions, and added that all three nations should be chasing him.

“All our boys are on their own journey,” said Mauger last year.

“We’re really proud of Levi, we’re really proud of who he’s become as a man and that’s transferred onto the field.

“We support all of our boys with their aspirations. Levi’s decided that route – just for now.

“That doesn’t mean to say he’s not going to be available for Samoa or [Fiji] down the track.

“If I was those coaches, I’d be going hard to get Levi in my team for the World Cup.”

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

3 Comments
J
Jmann 582 days ago

Agree with the article. New Zealander Levi Aumua - needs to think of his own future and in order to get more time playing for his country he should ditch underperforming Moana Pacifica for one of the other franchises.

P
Poe 583 days ago

Just the guy for the All Blacks. Ione back to the left. Stevenson at 15. Would make the future exciting.

T
Tony 583 days ago

What Folly it was to let Ngani LauMape go - now we are reaping the reward of that dumb decision.

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 3 hours 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.

287 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Why World Cup winner doesn’t blame All Black for leaving New Zealand Why World Cup winner doesn’t blame All Black for leaving New Zealand
Search