Love keeps the shirt
Richie Mo’unga is back in the picture. Sir Steve Hansen does not think it changes much.
Ruben Love owns the All Blacks fly-half jersey right now, and the man who coached New Zealand to the 2015 World Cup sees no reason for that to shift before Saturday’s Test at Ellis Park.
“You look at the first-fives, 12 months ago, there was a major panic, and we needed Richie back,” Hansen told the DSPN show with Martin Devlin. “Well, Ruben Love has been playing outstandingly, and I can’t see Richie replacing him in the immediate future unless there’s an injury.”
Dave Rennie had already confirmed Mo’unga is not in contention for Johannesburg. Hansen reads his return as useful anyway. Damian McKenzie, Josh Jacomb and Beauden Barrett all want the same jersey, and the pressure that creates lands at training long before it lands on a team sheet.
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Depth where it used to hurt
The same thing is happening in the tight five, according to Hansen. Fabian Holland is available again. Patrick Tuipulotu, Tupou Vaa’i, Sam Darry and Josh Lord give Rennie five locks he rates as Test starters.
“We’re starting to build some really good depth. Look, talent isn’t our problem,” he said. “I don’t think we have too many problems at the moment.”
Picking a team to survive Ellis Park
Hansen was less relaxed about the selection itself. He broke it down to three problems, and the first is the scrum.
“No point throwing out a 250 pack and they’ve got a 350 pack, they’re going to eat you up,” he said. “So, you have to have some big men, so that’ll come into consideration.”
The lineout he called an opportunity rather than a threat, which may be the argument for carrying three locks in the matchday squad. After that comes the aerial game. South Africa will kick, and New Zealand need players who can deal with the ball coming down.
He also wants a halfback who clears quickly, and midfielders who communicate enough to take the load off the fly-half.
“They’ll want good decision-makers in the midfield, good communicators, to take the pressure off the 10 so he can actually conduct the game rather than, you know, have to read the music to do so,” Hansen said.
Both squads are named on Thursday.
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