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Zinzan Brooke: Brodie Retallick's delayed influence can mirror England's Richard Hill in 2003

Brodie Retallick has been included in New Zealand's RWC squad despite injury (Photo by Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images)

All Black legend Zinzan Brooke is backing Brodie Retallick to replicate the World Cup-winning comeback that saw Richard Hill help England lift the trophy in Sydney in 2003.

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Retallick has been named in Steve Hansen’s 31-strong All Black squad for Japan – although the earliest the second row could return from the shoulder injury suffered in the 16-all, late July Rugby Championship draw with South Africa would be the knock-out stages.

Hansen knows that a fully fit Retallick changes the whole complexion of the New Zealand pack and is prepared to take him to the finals despite not yet having a return to play date. 

In 2003, Saracens flanker Hill badly tore a hamstring in the opening pool match with Georgia. Coach Clive Woodward kept him with the squad while he undertook lengthy rehabilitation work, believing the back row was so important it would be worth the gamble of operating a man down for a while.

Hill did not appear again for England until the semi-final, helping to defeat France, and he then delivered another world-class performance alongside back row colleagues Lawrence Dallaglio and Neil Back in the momentous extra-time final victory over Australia.

Like Hill, 77-cap Retallick is so important to the way his team operates that he has become a special case and former All Black Brooke is confident the lock will be a key figure at whatever point he returns to play.

Brooke, who overcame a serious Achilles injury to make the 1995 World Cup, told RugbyPass: “To me, Brodie Retallick is one and a half players – he is that important to the team. He gives so much more and while he may be a bit off form when he comes back, what he offers when at the peak of his game is astronomical.

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“When you look at England in 2003, they were at their peak and the final piece of the jigsaw in the team was Richard Hill. He was an unsung hero – he got on with things and delivered in every match. 

 

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“Hill was such an important cog in the back row trio that England knew they had to wait for a fully fit Hill to be available during the 2003 World Cup campaign. Clive did wait and was paid back with the trophy.

“If you are going to pick a World XV then one of the top two locks you would pick is Retallick and together with Sam Whitelock, they make a great second row combination for the All Blacks. 

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“Retallick is like Australia’s John Eales in that you know he is going to pick off lineout ball from the opposition. Eales was a real pain in backside and Retallick will be exactly the same when he gets back and will cause all kinds of problems both in the tight and around the field with that Praying Mantis body.”

Following what Brooke terms “ three wobbles” by the All Blacks before they gained revenge over Australia at Eden Park, the former No8 rates England as a more formidable team heading into the World Cup, although the return of Retallick would tip the scales back the other way. 

“The All Blacks will need Retallick in Japan and at the moment, on paper, England would be a little bit stronger than the All Blacks,” he said. “However, when Retallick comes back he will cause the opposition all kinds of problems.

“Of course you don’t hang your hat on one individual but one player can do something really important in a World Cup. Yes, match-wise Retallick will be a bit underdone when he gets back but I remember when I had to do my rehab work to make the 1995 World Cup after my ankle and partially torn Achilles injury, the training to get to the tournament was really tough. 

New Zealand legend Zinzan Brooke has high hopes for Brodie Rettalick

“There will be a lot of focus on the pool game between the All Blacks and Springboks but both teams will get to the semi-finals. Is there an easier way to get to the final in Japan? 

“I don’t think so because there are now six or seven teams who could win the World Cup which wasn’t the case 18 months ago when I would have said it doesn’t matter what route New Zealand take they will make the final. It’s now a level playing field.”

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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.

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