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Stephen Donald's four picks to return to All Blacks squad for Rugby Championship
By Sam Smith
World Cup-winning former All Blacks first-five Stephen Donald his outlined the four players he believes should return to the New Zealand squad for the upcoming Rugby Championship campaign.
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The All Blacks were scheduled to announce a 36-man squad for the Rugby Championship on Wednesday, but that has been delayed as selectors await medical updates for certain players.
The delay comes during the same week that the All Blacks find themselves under immense public pressure after falling to a historic home series defeat against Ireland.
With four losses in their last five test, head coach Ian Foster believed to have met with New Zealand Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson to discuss his future in the role on Tuesday.
It follows a statement issued by Robinson on Sunday in which he said recent results were “not acceptable” and that a review is being undertaken into the series defeat.
As such, changes – both within the coaching and playing ranks – are expected when the All Blacks eventually name their Rugby Championship squad.
Which exact changes will be made remains to be seen, but Donald has named four players who could earn themselves a recall into the national set-up.
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Speaking on SENZ, Donald said four-test loosehead prop Ethan de Groot, uncapped utility forward Tom Robinson, one-test utility forward Cullen Grace and 17-test halfback Brad Weber are all in the reckoning for inclusion.
After making his All Blacks debut last year, De Groot was a surprise omission from the All Blacks squad named to take on Ireland, as Foster and his assistants instead opted for France-bound Karl Tu’inukuafe and the uncapped Aidan Ross.
However, with Tu’inukuafe set to leave Kiwi shores at the end of the year, and Ross battling injury concerns, Donald said it makes sense to bring De Groot back into the fold.
“If [Tu’inukuafe] doesn’t get replaced by Ethan de Groot this time around… We got told the reasoning why he [De Groot] wasn’t the first time around – fitness and they wanted to make sure they won the Irish series,” Donald told SENZ.
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“It just doesn’t make sense now to not try and blood Ethan going forward. He’s shown enough to deserve that.”
Elsewhere in the tight five, injuries to Brodie Retallick and Scott Barrett may force changes to the All Blacks’ stocks at lock.
Retallick has been ruled out for between six-to-eight weeks with a broken cheekbone after he endured a head clash with Ireland prop Andrew Porter during last week’s loss in Wellington.
Barrett, meanwhile, was a late omission from the match day team for that test after sustaining an Achilles injury earlier in the week.
The severity of Barrett’s injury is yet to be confirmed, but news of his injury comes after young second rower Josh Lord was sidelined for the rest of the year with a ruptured ACL before the Ireland series even kicked off.
That could leave the All Blacks with only three fit locks to pick from in Sam Whitelock, Tupou Vaa’i and Patrick Tuipulotu – the latter of whom was only made available to play from the second test onwards after being granted dispensation upon his sabbatical return in Japan.
Therefore, reinforcements in that positional group may be needed for the Rugby Championship, and Donald pinpointed Robinson and Grace as the two leading candidates to fill the voids left by Retallick and Barrett.
Both players are capable of playing throughout the forward pack, with Robinson – normally a blindside flanker – often used as a lock by the Blues in this year’s Super Rugby Pacific.
Grace, meanwhile, starred for the Crusaders and Maori All Blacks as a No 8, but has also played his fair share of first-class rugby as a blindside flanker and lock.
Donald believes that versatility could be valuable for the All Blacks, especially given Barrett was seemingly New Zealand’s first-choice No 6 despite normally playing lock.
After starring at blindside flanker in the first test against Ireland, Barrett was only moved to lock for the second test due to the unavailability of Whitelock and Vaa’i, and was named to start at No 6 for the third test before injury struck.
Without him and Retallick, Donald said Robinson and Grace could come into the selection mix as he also made note of other contenders such as Highlanders pair Josh Dickson and Shannon Frizell.
“The Brodie Retallick, Scott Barrett potential double-whammy is an issue,” Donald said.
“Obviously Scott Barrett, under the current coaching regime… Is seen as a six as far as the top XV goes, which may change tomorrow, but we just have to presume he’s a six-lock.
“All of a sudden, does Tom Robinson – and I know this will be music to the ears of many a Blues fan – does he, all of a sudden, come into the consideration because he’s done the lock-six thing?
“You mentioned Josh Dickson, who’s already been in and around [the All Blacks squad], obviously Frizell’s been an All Black.
“Cullen Grace is the obvious one. The drums are just beating so loud. You’d imagine he comes in for someone.”
Donald went on to highlight that, without Barrett, the All Blacks would be left with Akira Ioane as the only blindside flanker in the squad, which he said could further necessitate the inclusion of Grace.
“Apart from Akira [Ioane] now, if Barrett’s out, he is the only No 6 in the squad,” Donald said.
“Akira was great in Wellington, probably – along with Ardie [Savea] – our best All Black, so he’s well and truly cemented himself in the squad, but does Cullen Grace come in anyway?”
The only other “contentious issue” in Donald’s view comes at halfback, where he believes Weber – who was among the highest-profile exclusions from the All Blacks squad to face Ireland – may have earned a recall.
Picked to play for the Maori All Blacks alongside co-captain and fellow exiled All Blacks halfback TJ Perenara, Weber caught Donald’s eye during his side’s two-match series against Ireland.
“Brad Weber, I think, certainly didn’t go backwards in the Maori camp. It goes without saying he gets a nomination,” Donald told SENZ.
“I had people who don’t usually take much interest in All Blacks selections messaging me saying, ‘Jeez, Brad Weber’s unlucky’, and his Maori performances were great.”
In saying that, Donald struggled to find a reason to cut debutant halfback Folau Fakatava from the side, meaning the All Blacks selectors may have to pick and choose between Weber and Finlay Christie to accompany the incumbent Aaron Smith.
“But then, also, would you go with the All Blacks with [Folau] Fakatava, who’s now seen as a bench man who’s added something different to that role for the All Blacks?” he said.
“I couldn’t imagine him getting cast aside, so then it becomes a straight shootout between Finlay and Brad Weber.
‘While Finlay can put his hands up and say, ‘Well, I was apart of the Eden Park game and that was it’, so does that deserve to be dropped? There’s so many things to think about there.”
The All Blacks will open their Rugby Championship campaign with two tests against the Springboks in South Africa on August 6 and August 13.
