Northern Edition

Select Edition

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

The next Nehe: Who will use 2019 to bolt into the World Cup frame?

Etene Nanai-Seturo. Photo / Getty Images

As is the case in every year preceding a World Cup tournament, the passing of the 2018 international calendar brings the hype and anticipation of the upcoming 2019 Rugby World Cup.

ADVERTISEMENT

Aside from Argentina’s one-off clash against the Barbarians at Twickenham this weekend, the November test window has officially concluded with a frenzy of tests throughout Europe and the United Kingdom, meaning the focus for the 20 World Cup-qualified teams will firmly shift to next year’s blue-ribbon tournament.

For All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen, the make-up of his 31-man squad for the sport’s global showpiece event in Japan will, for the most part, be solidified.

Most players who have featured frequently for the national side this year should feel a degree of confidence that they will take part in the tournament in 10 months’ time, which means there should be little room for alteration in terms of personnel at this late stage of this current World Cup cycle.

However, as proven by the All Blacks in the last World Cup cycle, there is always room for a few late applications in the final few months leading into the tournament.

Nehe Milner-Skudder headlined a trio of rookies – which included Waisake Naholo and Codie Taylor – that were named in Hansen’s 2015 World Cup squad following a series of spell-binding performances for the Hurricanes throughout his debut Super Rugby season.

Milner-Skudder’s repertoire of supreme agility and ability to break the line at will via his electric footwork made him a ground-breaking prospect for the All Blacks, so much so that he – alongside Naholo – overtook outside back incumbents Israel Dagg, Cory Jane and Charles Piutau to make the final squad.

ADVERTISEMENT

The concept of Milner-Skudder – or Taylor and Naholo, for that matter – making the cut for the World Cup in September from relative obscurity before Super Rugby started seven months beforehand was almost unfathomable given the solidarity of the All Blacks squad in the years prior to the event.

Nevertheless, by the end of the tournament, Milner-Skudder had become the world’s official breakthrough player of the year after sensational campaigns with the Hurricanes and the All Blacks, while Naholo and Taylor have gone on to become mainstays within the national set-up.

They all proved that a spectacular string of Super Rugby performances can thrust even the most unheralded or inexperienced players into World Cup contention with only months to spare.

Given that the upcoming Super Rugby season will act as one of the final trial runs for All Black hopefuls before the World Cup kicks-off, we look at three players that fit the bill of unheralded or inexperienced and possess the potential to make a late run for Hansen’s squad in the same vogue that Milner-Skudder did three and a half years ago.

ADVERTISEMENT

The first of these three players is former schoolboy sensation and new Chiefs recruit Etene Nanai-Seturo.

Ever since he made his debut for St Kentigern College’s 1st XV as a 15-year-old back in 2015, the hype surrounding Etene Nanai-Seturo has been ever-present, and justifiably so.

There is a reason as to why New Zealand Rugby had to fight as hard as they did with the Warriors to acquire the services of the 19-year-old at the beginning of the year, and that is because of the freakish offensive talent that he possesses.

Nanai-Seturo’s top-end speed, immensely impressive footwork and explosive power and strength were key ingredients in making him a vital contributor to the All Blacks Sevens’ gold medal success at the Commonwealth Games in April, and it was those factors that spectators of the Mitre 10 Cup keenly anticipated when he made his debut for Counties Manukau later in the year.

He showed glimpses of what he was capable of in his first taste of first-class action, and that was enough to earn the outside back a spot in the Chiefs’ 2019 squad.

It is there where he will likely overtake incumbent right wing Sean Wainui to create a formidable back three trio with Solomon Alaimalo and Shaun Stevenson – a frightening prospect for the rest of the competition.

Video Spacer

However, he faces a stern challenge in wedging his way into the All Blacks squad as an outside back.

That area of the team is already heavily congested, as Rieko Ioane, Ben Smith, Damian McKenzie, Waisake Naholo, Jordie Barrett, Nehe Milner-Skudder and George Bridge all received playing time in the back three positions throughout 2018.
Therefore, they are the front-runners in terms of selection for next year’s World Cup.

The outside back slots are by no means secured though, as Ioane and Smith are the only back three specialists that can pencil themselves in for Japan 2019, while McKenzie is likely to head over primarily as a first-five option.

That leaves two remaining outside back positions, and who could fill those is anyone’s guess.

Barrett and Naholo are currently the favourites after they were named in the All Blacks’ end-of-year tour squad, but, as Milner-Skudder proved in 2015, it would only take a stirring Super Rugby campaign from him, Bridge, or any other outside back – including Nanai-Seturo – to catapult them into contention.

With the strength of support he will have around him in the back three at the Chiefs, combined with his supreme athletic prowess and lethal attacking ability with ball in hand, there is every chance that Nanai-Seturo could challenge for a place at the World Cup if he fulfils his limitless potential in Super Rugby next year.

In other news:

Video Spacer

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

F
Flankly 1 minute ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
N
Nickers 10 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

43 Go to comments
N
Nickers 39 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

43 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Marcus Smith on that substitution and his England plea Marcus Smith on that substitution and his England plea
Search