Northern Edition

Select Edition

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

The surprise package who has been New Zealand's best attacking midfielder this season

(Photos by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

There are seasons in Super Rugby where a relatively unknown player seems to burst onto the scene and capture lightning in a bottle, performing at a level unseen before.

ADVERTISEMENT

Nehe Milner-Skudder comes to mind, a player who was not highly sought after and transitioned into rugby union from a stint on the fringes of the NRL. He exploded in Super Rugby for the Hurricanes in 2015 after getting a spot on the roster and became an All Blacks star.

This year the Hurricanes have found that kind of player again in Bailyn Sullivan, who had just eight appearances with the Chiefs over four seasons since 2018 where he was tried as a winger on five occasions with limited success, and three times off the bench.

Video Spacer

The Breakdown | Episode 12

Video Spacer

The Breakdown | Episode 12

The 23-year-old has been given another chance with the Hurricanes and has found another life. Even in a crowded midfield he has become the most dangerous attacking centre in the competition, statistically speaking.

Sullivan has clocked the most running metres of any midfielder (600), while generating the most post-contact metres (281) on just 58 carries. The next best in total metres is Izaia Perese from the Waratahs with 598, which took him 70 carries, while in post-contact metres the next best is Fijian Apisalome Vota of the Drua.

His eight line breaks are second only to Will Jordan (9), yet the Crusaders fullback has taken significantly more carries with 87. Six of Sullivan’s breaks have directly led to Hurricanes tries.

In terms of bang for buck, Sullivan has been the most effective centre at creating and finishing broken field opportunities.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Hurricanes are 6-5 on the season but in the seven times that Bailyn Sullivan has started at 13, the Hurricanes have a 6-1 win-loss record.

In the four games Sullivan hasn’t started, they have lost every match.

There has been so much chopping and changing in many positions that the selection of Sullivan cannot be the only factor, but when you look at the attacking production Sullivan has given the Hurricanes, it has made a big difference against both top teams and weaker ones.

Against the Blues in the second game of the season, Sullivan made an impression in the final moments by setting up Ardie Savea for the game-winning try by planting a big fend on the chest of league convert Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and breaking away downfield.

The pass was on the money – and it needed to be, it would have sailed over the touchline and essentially ended the game had it not hit Savea on the chest at full pace.

ADVERTISEMENT

That assist was his second of the game after a pinpoint grubber kick laid on a try for Wes Goosen in the first half. Those two plays were a net addition of 14 points for the Hurricanes in a game decided by one point.

Against the Highlanders at home, he didn’t have any plays that influenced the scoring, but in Dunedin in the second fixture he opened the Hurricanes’ ledger by ghosting past no fewer than five Highlanders defenders cutting against the grain. The game was ultimately decided by one point.

In the loss to Moana Pasifika, Sullivan didn’t start. In the return leg he did, adding a try assist in the second half by laying one on for TJ Perenara in what was a lopsided win.

Despite an early yellow card for a dangerous tackle against the Queensland Reds, Sullivan pounced on a loose pass and galloped away over 60-metres to score the Hurricanes’ first try of the game. He scored his second try eleven minutes from time for a net impact of 12 points in a 30-17 victory.

In the Hurricanes’ huge 67-5 victory against the Drua on the weekend, Sullivan had an assist with a nice short ball for the opening try to Josh Moorby, and almost a carbon copy for Moorby’s second with another pass to the outside.

While Moana Pasifika and the Fijian Drua are at the bottom of the ladder, the Blues and Reds are top five teams with the Auckland-based franchise leading the competition. Sullivan’s biggest contributions have come in those two wins.

With five try assists and four tries in seven games, Sullivan has been a match-winning influence for the Hurricanes, which has vastly exceeded expectations on what would have been a bargain contract pick-up from the Chiefs.

This does not mean he will be an All Blacks selection, however, as on the other side of the ball his defensive effectiveness needs to improve to become a test calibre player. The Drua’s only try came right through his channel.

His defence needs to sharpen in aspects, the angles he takes, timing and execution of his tackles which has been off at times resulting in a 74 per cent completion rate and 19 misses. It’s also the non-attempts that don’t end up on a stat sheet that matter.

Overall, Sullivan has made a big difference and considering where he was 12 months ago, his season will be one to remember.

At just 23 years old, there is so much more potential to unlock to round out his game, but right now he is the most productive attacking midfielder in New Zealand.

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

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
LONG READ
LONG READ Why Freddy Douglas has played for Scotland before Edinburgh Why Freddy Douglas has played for Scotland before Edinburgh
Search