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What Scott Robertson made of Billy Proctor's All Blacks debut

Billy Proctor makes the break for the All Blacks. Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Six aspiring New Zealand talents took the field for the first time in an All Blacks jersey on Friday night in sunny San Diego, and strong performances across the board have left the Kiwi coaches with some decisions to make.

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In particular, midfielder Billy Proctor took to the international arena like a duck to water, making his impact felt on both sides of the ball against a physical Fijian side.

Proctor was promoted to the starting unit for the contest as usual starting No. 13 Rieko Ioane was rested following a busy month that included a Super Rugby Pacific final as well as big minutes in the two Tests against England.

Along with winger Caleb Clarke, the 25-year-old Proctor’s performance was one of the biggest talking points to come from the contest in regards to future selections.

“Billy had some great touches, he had some really good moments,” Scott Robertson reflected following the Test.

“He was welcomed, wasn’t he? Got a couple of shoulders on him to welcome him to Test football. He took a couple of opportunities, I’m really pleased for him.”

The following day, the coach expanded on those thoughts a little more, sharing his thoughts on Clarke’s outing as well.

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“Both of them were great defensively and with ball in hand for the majority of the match.

“Billy’s got a great ability to hit the ball, got great running lines, he’s a quality defender and he sets up his outsides beautifully. He had a great debut.

“Then, Caleb’s a great finisher, isn’t he? He knows his way over the line, has great aerial skills and just getting better defensively all the time.”

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A 36-man squad for The Rugby Championship will be named on Sunday, providing the opportunity for four more players to enter the environment.

That may well mean more competition for the likes of Proctor and Clarke given New Zealand’s endless depth in the backline stocks.

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However, with such strong outings in the California heat, it would appear the only way for Proctor and Clarke to go is up.

Meanwhile, in the forwards, captain Scott Barrett offered his thoughts on the performances of the debutants in the pack.

“It was great for those guys to step in and get their opportunity, all six of them. For Billy, starting, and the rest of them running on, they certainly had an impact on the game.

“Pasilio (Tosi) got his shoulders through the line, Sam Darry won a nice turnover and (George) Bell getting the dot after a couple of nice touches.”

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2 Comments
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Jasyn 228 days ago

A few names in the ‘top’ side there purely on reputation and cap numbers, Ioane being top of that underperforming pile.

The sooner some of the new blood is brought through the better. 13 would be a good place to start.

A
Andrew 228 days ago

“and he sets up his outsides beautifully…”..being the most basic skill that Ioane cannot master.

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JW 3 hours ago
The revitalised Australians are pushing a Super Rugby revival

I’d have to get my head around it, but for simplicity and continuity sake, I’ll pose if we take your description and apply that it means a team like SA simply chooses to scrum and lineout more often, and perhaps take longer in doing so, then that would be a very obvious circumstance to have verified, but I have not seen anything like that. I mean we did agonize over scrums nearly taking a minute to set in that semi final, but that was two sides happy to play (at) the same game (/pace).


My assumption was it was rather a symptom of how they play, a combative tight contest results in more errors/scrums, kicking inclination and tall timber means more ball dead lineouts (playing for penalties?), if the game is '“slower” because of ‘legitimate’ factors, a low BIP is fairly irrelevant, you’re both still getting your bang for buck of a great contest, and those contests are very absorbing and energy zapping, which doesn’t align with your theory. You’re on the edge of your seat waiting to see one team get smash in the scrum, or if the other can secure good ball, just as you are waiting for a phase or two to build before pressure a ruck for a turnover etc. I’m sure they would loved a higher BIP if that was the symptom of their style, just as long as they got those rest breaks still.


But I could always have had the wrong perception of it being based on the fact I’ve only notice BIP improving when refs started stopping the clock (instead of berating the teams to hurryup), so the BIP obviously improves when doing that, but the game still looked to take as long, meaning that 1 or 2 minutes saved was always going to be largely ineffectual. It has also always appeared to me that what defines teams like SA is the amount of time the clock is stopped (even before refs tried to combat them by blowing the whistle more often) in their games, and therefor how long their games last. This is a stat/factor that I have seen analyzed and proven, but your articles have also highlighted the odd thing or two (scrum frequency dropping etc) that I would be very interested in a comprehensive analysis on effects of a test involving SA (compared to before), I certainly can’t remember any extra fatigue showing in their games last year after a raft of changes to stop scrums from being taken etc.

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