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'The Rolls Royce of fullbacks': Calls for All Blacks selection grows louder as David Havili impresses again for Crusaders

(Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)

David Havili’s scintillating early Super Rugby form continued on Friday evening as he captained the Crusaders to a convincing 33-13 victory over South Island rivals, the Highlanders, at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch.

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Standing in for injured skipper Scott Barrett, the 25-year-old fullback continued from where he left off in previous weeks against the Waratahs, Chiefs and Blues as he sliced the Highlanders defence on multiple occasions to put the visitors on the back foot throughout the contest.

Havili’s attacking exploits are reflected in his stat sheet from this match, which he ended with a team-leading 82 running metres, six defenders beaten, five offloads – the most from any player throughout the encounter – and a clean break.

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He probably should have also had a try assist added to that list as well, but a long range pass following his solitary line break to a wide open George Bridge was fumbled with the try line in sight.

Performances of this ilk have become common for Havili in the opening rounds of the new Super Rugby campaign, as he registered similarly compelling displays in Nelson, Hamilton and Auckland over the past three weeks.

Subsequently, the three-test All Black has become the most dangerous player in the competition with ball in hand, an accolade of which is again represented by his season statistics thus far.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8mys_kA7SK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

He leads the competition in ball carries (45), defenders beaten (25) and offloads (14) – twice as many as the second-placed Jack Goodhue – while also sitting in second-equal for points scored (30), fourth for metres carried (258) and sixth-equal for line breaks (six).

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So rich is his vein of form that fans are already predicting Havili’s return to the national side three years after his last appearance, while others have taken to Twitter to express their awe of the utility back’s attacking feats in the wake of his most recent showing.

https://twitter.com/sweetxmelly/status/1230754547464732674

It’s clear to see that an All Blacks re-call wouldn’t go amiss among New Zealand’s online fanbase, but whether or not such a selection comes to fruition remains to be seen.

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Despite Havili’s exceptional start to the new season and all the utility value he adds, he still has to usurp the likes of Damian McKenzie and Jordie Barrett for his preferred fullback role, which was last filled at the World Cup by none other than Beauden Barrett.

However, his top-class form has proven him worthy of starting ahead of the highly-touted Will Jordan at the Crusaders, proving he can displace other creditable candidates from their respective places in the pecking order through his own ability.

That leaves new All Blacks boss Ian Foster with a premature selection headache, but with plenty of talent at his disposal, it could well be Havili who stands as the crème de la crème of Kiwi fullbacks when Wales and Scotland roll into town in July.

In other news:

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Flankly 2 hours 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
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LONG READ Mick Cleary: 'Borthwick needs to have faith in Marcus Smith' Mick Cleary: 'Borthwick needs to have faith in Marcus Smith'
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