All Blacks selection 'conundrums'
JUNE SPOTLIGHT: The All Blacks midfield combination is just one of the tough challenges they face ahead of the Test Series against France says assistant coach Ian Foster.
With All Black stalwart Ryan Crotty passing his fitness test, the Crusaders centre is certain to start on Saturday. However, with no Sonny Bill Williams (knee injury), Crotty’s partner remains a mystery.
One good thing for the No.1 team in the World, they have the likes of specialist centres Ngani Laumape, Anton Lienert-Brown, and Jack Goodhue to select from.
The experienced Crotty and Lienert-Brown combinations could be the preferred choice.
However, the assistant coach Ian Forster was reluctant to provide any clues as to which centre combinations will start, instead revealed that he liked having the option of several different types of midfield players.
“We’ve got a lot of different types of midfielders … but the things that are non-negotiable about the midfield – regardless of your skill set – you’ve got to be a great communicator, run good lines, got to be able to throw short passes, wide passes under pressure and add to that some of the kicking options,” he said.
“If you get those decisions right at the end of it you don’t always have to be the fastest or the strongest,” he said.
The other intriguing area of the selection is the back three, Forster let it slip that fullback Ben Smith will be in the starting XV but did not mention whether the tried and tested Waisake Naholo and Rieko Ioane will complete the back three.
“Clearly Ben [Smith] is going to be in there, so it’s a matter of how we juggle and deal with the skillset around him.
“Jordie [Barrett] has been going good and we’ve been delighted with the way Nehe Milner-Skudder has come back in the last month, it’s good to see him spent more time on the wing.
“And it’s nice to see Waisake Naholo really starting to run fast and get that clinical finishing side we know he’s got,”
The All Blacks take on France in the first of three Tests on Saturday, June 9.
“We want to try and study them as much as we can but largely it’s really about us going through and making sure we’re not hesitant and trying to think about too many things,” Foster said.
“So, if we run fast, catch well, run nice lines to get our passing game going then after that we make the adaptions based on what they do,”
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