Northern Edition

Select Edition

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

'Give him the nod': Why David Havili deserves the All Blacks No 12 jersey

(Photo By David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Crusaders second five-eighth David Havili may have played himself back into the starting No 12 role for the All Blacks based on his superb showing in the Super Rugby Pacific final against the Blues.

ADVERTISEMENT

That’s according to former Highlanders lock Joe Wheeler, who sang Havili’s praises in the wake of the Crusaders’ win at Eden Park over the weekend.

Having earned an All Blacks recall in 2021 following a four-year hiatus from international rugby, Havili is firmly in the hunt to start for the All Blacks this season after having played in 12 of New Zealand’s 15 tests last year.

Video Spacer

How the Blues beat the Crusaders | The Breakdown

Video Spacer

How the Blues beat the Crusaders | The Breakdown

However, as the All Blacks campaign wore on, his form started to wane and the fullback-turned-midfielder was reduced to a bench role for the final two tests as Anton Lienert-Brown and Quinn Tupaea started at second-five against Ireland and France.

That hasn’t stopped Wheeler from backing Havili to don the No 12 jersey for the All Blacks in their upcoming test series against Ireland.

Speaking on the Aotearoa Rugby Pod, Wheeler said Havili did enough in the Crusaders’ run to the inaugural Super Rugby Pacific title to prove the doubters wrong and secure his place in the starting All Blacks side.

“Yeah I think so,” Wheeler said when asked if Havili has played his way into the All Blacks midfield following his performance in his side’s 21-7 Super Rugby Pacific final win.

ADVERTISEMENT

“He’s the glue of that Crusaders backline and he has been for a long, long time. He’s a fantastic footballer, tough as nails and I think silenced a lot of critics.

“Obviously in those conditions, we are probably going to see it in the three test series. Only the Dunedin test is going to be perfect conditions in terms of playing in a dry stadium.

“The rest of the time we are potentially going to have greasy, potentially wet conditions. We saw how he handled that, defensively was outstanding but also his decision-making around the field.

“His kicking ability and his skill execution under pressure is just phenomenal. The guy has got a magnificent skillset.”

ADVERTISEMENT

What impressed Wheeler the most was the level of execution by the Crusaders backs when handling the ball on what was a wet night in Auckland.

“Apart from the scrum mistake that the Crusaders made, I couldn’t recall another handling error throughout that game. There were very few of them, and those conditions were atrocious,” Wheeler, who played for the Crusaders from 2010 to 2012, said

“They were really, really challenging. He led a lot of that. His game management alongside Richie Mo’unga was just fantastic. For me, they’ve got to give him the nod in the 12 jersey for this test series.”

Related

Former All Blacks hooker James Parsons took note of Havili’s suffocating defence as he worked in tandem with midfield partner Jack Goodhue to keep their Blues counterparts Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Rieko Ioane locked down for most of the night.

The Blues were subsequently reduced to making an early substitution, replacing Tuivasa-Sheck with Bryce Heem less than five minutes into the second half as they went in search of some spark.

“His line speed and the pressure he put the Blues attack under, they weren’t getting front foot ball. They just didn’t have time on it,” Parsons, a former Blues captain and centurion, told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod of Havili’s defensive work.

“There was one time where Rieko got the outside and Davey just managed to grab his jersey and get him to deck. It’s that sort of desperation that just set him above on the night.

“Yes, he’s come under some heat over the season, but big players step up in big games. I don’t think you could do any worse than sending David Havili in that 12 jersey.”

Speaking to media yesterday as the All Blacks entered camp to prepare for next weekend’s first test against Ireland, Havili said he learned a lot from the 2021 test campaign and explained that as the season wore on he was “a wee bit tired”.

“It’s just that international rugby is so physical and you’ve got to be able to get your body back to where it needs to be each week,” he said.

“That was a big lesson for me. I was a wee bit tired going into a lot of those games over the backend.

“I’ve focused really hard around my recovery this year and getting my body right, and where it needs to be to compete at the top level.”

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

3 Comments
J
John 883 days ago

Wow where are you from and what are your rugby credentials? The hands down best second 5 eight this year has been Quinton Tupaea No ones else comes close.

M
Machpants 883 days ago

I disagree. Same as last year, havili was great when his forwards were dominating. He was great against the blues cos the saders forwards were totally on top. But as soon as there was pressure last year he folded, and I don't see anything has changed. With both Beaudy and mounga being players that need dominant forward packs, we don't need another in the backs like them. Interestingly only jordie had provided decent go forward of all the 12s in the squad, behind a weak forward pack, as the canes are often dominated up front. Second would be Tupaea

C
ColinK 883 days ago

As good a Reiko has been this year I would like them to play a combination, so Havili 12 Goodhue in 13 and Rieko on the bench. I think Jack is a world class player at international level, Reiko is not quite proven yet at 13 at the top level. Maybe I'm wrong but in a clutch game, which these Irish tests might be, its more suited to Jack. I am a huge Barrett fan but maybe that also then argues for Mounga at 10 to make the Crusaders axis the key players. Interesting debate. For me I go with Barrett though.

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
TRENDING
TRENDING World Cup-winning halfback on Cam Roigard’s substitution in France loss World Cup-winning halfback on Cam Roigard’s substitution vs. France
Search