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Why the All Blacks should start Samipeni Finau ‘for the greater good’

Samipeni Finau of the All Blacks. Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images

Two-time Rugby World Cup winner Victor Vito has explained why the All Blacks may need to reshuffle their backrow to accommodate for Samipeni Finau. With Sam Cane unavailable for the upcoming clash with France, coach Scott Robertson has some big decisions to make.

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On the back of headline-grabbing wins over England at Twickenham’s Stadium and Ireland in Dublin, the All Blacks are looking to maintain their unbeaten run up north. But what awaits is an almighty challenge, with the men in black also bracing for a shot at revenge.

In the opening Test of last year’s Rugby World Cup in France, the tournament hosts played New Zealand in a blockbuster showdown. Les Bleus won that match 27-13 at Stade de France, which is the same venue that will host another Test between the sides in the Autumn Nations Series.

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The All Blacks are a fair bit different since that World Cup encounter, a no change is more significant or noteworthy than in the coaching department. Scott Robertson leads the charge as the team’s head coach, and there are some key changes to the playing pool as well.

Ardie Savea continues to perform at a world-class level at No. 8, but the rest of the backrow will likely look a lot different this time around. Wallace Sititi has been a breakout superstar in the Test arena, Finau starting to make his mark, and the other options are new to the environment.

Peter Lakai has only played one Test for the All Blacks and that was against Japan last month. All Blacks XV skipper Du’Plessis has also been called into the top squad as a replacement for Cane, which could see him debut. But as Vito explained, height at the set-piece is crucial.

“I think Sammy (Cane), obviously, he came back into that little bit of leadership strength that he has and he’s been playing some bloody good code latterly. It’s one of those things, just taking the pressure himself off as a leader… it’s a bit of a shame he’s not available,” Vito said on SENZ’s Scotty & Izzy.

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“If he’s not available, you’ve got Samipeni last week and I just think… we could be looking at a combination with Wallace, Ardie and himself with Ardie maybe at seven and Wallace at eight and Samipeni at six.

“Experience-wise, it’s a huge game. This is a much bigger game than we would have expected, especially the way Ireland capitulated last week. But at the same time, you’ve got a guy like Peter Lakai who could provide a bit more of a threat over the ball.

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“Obviously, we’ve got (Du’Plessis) who’s just come in who’s an absolute menace over the ball, but would it be too much to just chuck him straight in there? He could be someone that’s quite effective off the bench if that’s the way we want to go.

“If you look at those other two players in Peter Lakai and (Du’Plessis), the French are a very tall team, especially in the loose, so I think having one less lineout option is just going to make the job harder for Scotty (Barrett) to make calls.

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“At the end of the day, having a little bit of extra height always helps. That’s where I go with… for the greater good of what they want to go, winning set-piece, that’s massive in the Northern Hemisphere.”

The All Blacks made a particularly unforgettable statement in last week’s clash with Ireland, where they emerged victorious 23-13 to end their losing run at the Aviva Stadium. They hadn’t beaten the Irish at that venue since 2016, having lost the last two Tests there.

Damian McKenzie received Player of the Match honours after finishing with an 18-point haul, and Will Jordan continued to score tries for fun against the Irish. But really, it was a team effort from the All Blacks who have continued to seek improvement under coach Robertson.

But as Vito discussed – a former All Black who has played 134 matches for French and European juggernauts La Rochelle – France will “definitely be a little bit worried” as they prepare to tackle a New Zealand outfit that’s growing in confidence.

“The way that they’ve been looking to be quite positive with ball in hand, I think that’s something that they’re going to have to keep the French guessing. If the French start thinking in defence that it’s quite easy to read when we’re going to attack… the French are quite solid at the set-piece as well,” Vito explained.

“We do have to keep them honest just on our counterattack and different things. But I think what they won’t be expecting as much is kind of the way we’ve been using our defence by just watching the ball and getting a bit better spaces.

“We used to man watch a little bit so some of their decoy runners affected us a little bit, but now because we’re watching the ball a bit more, they’re going to be worried that they have to keep some of their runners a bit tighter around their 10.

“They’ll definitely be a little bit worried but the French being the French, a little bit of backs to the wall, that’s something that they love.”

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Comments

8 Comments
S
SadersMan 6 days ago

Glad to see they've selected Finau v FRA. If not now then when? Given that he's been in the training environment for 14 test matches, it's time for him to take on the big dogs, once again, & to show power & progress. The #6 jersey is his for the taking.


Ardie back to 8, Lakai to 7, & Sititi to 6 looks like plan B, so win, win, imo.

N
Nickers 6 days ago

Finau makes sense on paper but his performances have not been where they need to be.


France's pack is so massive I don't think having a guy who a few cm taller and 5kg heavier will have a material effect. Barrett, Vaai, Tuipolotu and Sititi have turned NZ's line out defence from OK last year to an absolute weapon this year. We don't miss anything in the line out from Finau not playing.


I would much rather have a guy in red hot form go to work than someone who makes sense on paper because of his dimensions. Our back row already doesn't make any sense compared to previous ABs team and other international teams (Ardie is the tallest at 6'2", and Sititi's dimensions are more comparable to a prop or hooker than a loose forward, but he is the line out option of the trio) but it is proving to be very effective. Add Lakai into the mix who can do everything Cane can plus being a huge ball carrying threat and you have a very dynamic and unique back 3 who are all threats in every facet of the game.


We also executed a great game plan against Ireland that made the most of our loosies strengths outside of set piece. By never kicking the ball out we took Ireland's best attacking platform away from them and dominated them with loose forwards who are built for running rugby.

j
johnz 6 days ago

Exactly. Finau has been picked on the basis of his dimensions before but has failed to fire at this level, and France will be unforgiving. We might as well play to our strengths rather than try and match the opposition where we can't.

b
bit of a flanker 7 days ago

Williams

Aumua

Lmax

BBarrett

V'aai

Sititi

Kirifi

Savea


TTaylor

De groot

Tosi

Tuipulotu

Lakai

B
B 7 days ago

All Blacks forwards coaching guru Jason Ryan, has some tough decisions to make.

But anyway going by what I've seen so far and if he rewards players for consistency and good training ethics my starting forward selections and reserves are:

1. T.Williams

2. A Aumua

3. T.Lomax

4. S.Barrett(C)

5. T.Vaa'i

6. S.Finau

7. A.Savea(VC)

8. W.Sititi

16.C.Taylor

17. O.Tu'ungafasi

18. P.Tosi

19.P.Tuipolotu

20.P.Lakai

I'll be waiting with interest to read JR's selections and his comments.

M
MakeOllieMathisAnAB 7 days ago

I got


1) Temaiti

2) George Bell

3) Lomax

4) barret

5) Vai’i

6) Samipeni

7) Ardie

8) Wallace

16) Aumua

17) Ofa

18) Tosi

19) Tuipolotu

20) Lakai


I had wanted Lakai to start and Ardie on the pine but Samipeni and Wallace might be a wee bit too green for that just yet.

George should be ready by now and Razor needs to pick up his sack and justify that selection, show us what the kids made of.

Codie can have another week for brain damage recovery.

H
Head high tackle 7 days ago

I think Taylor will start. I dont really want to see Savea at 7 when he hasnt played there for 3 years. Have ypu completely moved on from DeGroot? I wouldnt be upset to see DuPlussi play 7 but think Razor will go with Lakai.

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J
JW 1 hour 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.

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