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Roger Tuivasa-Sheck could return to NRL next season

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck /Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck may have at least one NRL contract on the table for next season, Sir John Kirwan reported on Sky’s The Breakdown on Sunday night.

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The former Daley M (the NRL’s MVP award) winner could elect to leave rugby union should he continue to struggle for meaningful minutes on the All Blacks‘ northern tour.

The Blues midfielder earned an All Blacks selection in his debut Super Rugby campaign but has managed to take the field just twice on the international stage, both being in short appearances off the bench.

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The panel were discussing consistency in selection when Kirwan revealed the “whisper”:

“Little whisper is that there is a contract on the table for Roger Tuivasa-Sheck back at the Roosters,” Kirwin said. “If he feels at the end of the northern tour that maybe…”

The panel then speculated that there would be more than one contract on offer if NRL clubs sniffed a potential return for the star fullback.

“Well that’d be disappointing if that’s the case,” Jeff Wilson replied. “I can understand there’d be frustration around this.

“We certainly haven’t seen the best of him on a rugby field yet because he hasn’t had the opportunity.

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“But like you say, time is running out and where do those opportunities lie?”

Tuivasa-Sheck has made 12 appearances for the Blues in addition to his five recent NPC caps with Auckland.

The All Blacks will name a 36-man squad for their Northern Tour with four tests against tier one nations to be played over late October and November.

“I think the hardest thing is, we’re just running out of time, so I want to see Roger get a decent crack,” Kirwan continued.

“I understand why he didn’t get on last night… bonus point… there’s a lot going on, we’ve got to win the [Rugby Championship].

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“But the northern tour, he probably shouldn’t play against Japan, we need to see him against Scotland or Wales where it’s a big test match.

“If you picked him as your midfield right now, he’s probably the last on the bus. Anton Lienert-Brown you know, Jordie [Barret] is now playing 12, David Havili’s back…”

Tuivasa-Sheck’s place in the pecking order took another hit last week when Jordie Barrett was named to start at second five in the second Bledisloe test.

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Barrett’s stellar performance could see him battle David Havili for the starting role while experienced campaigner Anton Lienert-Brown-Brwon is expected to return from injury in time to join the team for their trip to Asia and Europe.

Mils Muliaina had sympathy for the situation.

“The circumstances haven’t helped Roger,” Muliaina said. “Because ideally Fozzie would have wanted to win, to get him some time during that Irish series, the thing that he’s lacking at the moment, is time.

“Time in terms of, not having to second think where he has to go over the ball, where all our second fives are doing that, he hasn’t played rugby for a long time, those are sorts of stuff, when he has to kick.

“At the moment, his attacking game is outstanding but it’s just those little things that you don’t have to think about when you’ve been playing the game for years and years and unfortunately he needs time in the saddle and he hasn’t had that.”

The initial plan for Tuivasa-Sheck was to join Super Rugby and compete for a spot in next years’ Rugby World Cup side.

At the time of his decision, Roger didn’t have a position in mind to play in his return, that call was made by Blues coach Leon McDonald (potentially with some consultation from Ian Foster).

The landscape of midfielders in New Zealand is a rapidly evolving one.

“What I’ve noticed,” Kirwan further added. “Is that our kicking game, our short kicking game, our manipulative attacking game has now gone to the foot of 12, so he’s going to have to show us that on the northern tour as well, that kicking game, we know he can step.

“It’s a timing issue, I mean I hope he doesn’t go back to the Roosters, I hope he stays for a few more years yet.”

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Comments

5 Comments
I
Ian 769 days ago

Give him a go at fullback, as he did in league

D
David 769 days ago

give him time to get used to rugby again remember there are2 teams going noth and super rugby and the npc next year as well as tests before the world cup

B
Bryan 769 days ago

The timing of his tenure, with covid disruptions added, have conspired to keep him out.
But the mid field was probably the wrong slot.
He's a natural fullback who I'm sure could play wing, either of which would've been less complex areas to develop in.
It'd be a shame to see him go, but I don't see any opportunity for him till after RWC '23.

T
Tristan 769 days ago

Honestly, do these ex-AB's think that RTS could switch from league, play a dozen games for the Blues and be a complete test quality centre? Get real! Reiko has moved one position in and struggles to play there 2 years later. There have been two really successful switches from league to union in recent years. Brad Thorn and SBW. Both took the time from club rugby upwards to learn, to earn the right to play provincial and then super rugby, then internationals. If RTS genuinely wanted to play at RWC-23 he should have made the switch a year earlier.

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Flankly 53 minutes 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
N
Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

43 Go to comments
N
Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

43 Go to comments
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