Question marks over the All Blacks tight five

Question marks over the All Blacks tight five

James Mortimer    08.Aug.2013Getty Images

While All Blacks captain Richie McCaw is expected to return to the starting line-up for the World Champions in Sydney next weekend to kick off The Investec Rugby Championship, likely confirming the makeup of the back row, there is still doubt over the tight five that will take on the Wallabies.

McCaw, who will continue to make his rugby comeback as the World Champions play the Lions and Cantabrians tomorrow, may not last the full 80 minutes in the tournament opener, and as a consequence Kieran Read and Liam Messam will likely be his partners in the loose forward trio.

Steven Luatua won’t get a Test start in harsh environs of a pack house in Sydney, while Sam Cane will likely have extended time off the bench if the All Blacks captain’s legs get heavy in his first international of 2013.

The men in front of them have some minor question marks around them.

Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick as the senior locks may be in the starting team, but the All Blacks selectors will be wary of the mammoth workloads the two have had over the Investec Super Rugby season, meaning the Luke Romano may be called into the run on team.

Whitelock is expected to be there considering the aerial threat the Wallabies lineout presents, and the big Crusaders second row is fast developing a reputation as perhaps the best snatcher in the game, while his physicality has gone up a notch this year.

The front row is a little more interesting.

With Wyatt Crockett out of the opener with a knee injury, Tony Woodcock is expected to start, but there could be a temptation to let Charlie Faumuina loose in his eighth Test match, considering that the 26-year-old's development with the All Blacks has been cut short of late with a calf injury.

That same muscle is something that is muddying the selection waters at rake, with Dane Coles missing the third Test against France with a calf injury, while Keven Mealamu has had similar complaints throughout the season, playing less than ten matches for the Blues this season.

Which could indicate Andrew Hore could start, with the Highlanders veteran injury free, and clearly hungry to play after he suited up for his club in Central Otago immediately after the All Blacks training camp wrapped up last week.

The selectors will be wary of Father Times desire to influence the likes of Woodcock, Hore and Mealamu – which could result in the likes of Coles and Faumuina continuing to get extended game time as the World Champions keep one eye cocked towards the World Cup in England.

All Blacks best forward pack vs Boks and wallabies,,,
1 t woodcock, 2 d coles, 3 o franks, 4 bretalick, 5 s whitelock, 6 l messam, 7 R McCaw, 8 k read
16 a hore, 17 b franks, 18 c faumuina, 19 l romano, 20 s cane

mortimer needs to get his facts staright a bit, cos faumuina aint a loosehead prop, hes a tighthead. so if theres any temptation to let him loose in his 8th test it will be at owens expense, not woodys.

also how is brodie retallick the senior lock with whitelock??? both retallick and romano have played the same number of tests. considering that retallick was injured during the june tests, it makes romano the incumbent.
still silly nit picking from me, cos retallick and whitelock should be the starting locking combo. retallick has become a physical  monster who IMO is on par with romano, but he also has the added bonus of being the fittest All Black ever.

im not sold on coles for the All Blacks, but hooker is an area which needs immediate attention, and cole has played reasonably well compared to the others.
cant help but think that hika after a strong season should be up there somewhere too, but if he can back his spXV performance with a strong ITM game, EOYT and another shot at AB redemption might be on the cards.

the whole forward pack looks the goods, should have included vito and afeaki, but.IMO this group will get the job done regardless of hansen plays them.

GO ALL BLACKS!!!

 Think a replacement for Tony Woodcock needs to be found sooner rather than late. Messam found some good form in the knock out stages of th Super XV so let's see (I hope not!) if he can replicate that into the RC.

Brodie Retalick is a improving but I'm not completely sold on him, I think he's a bit stupid.

Whitelock is looking really good, IMO New Zealans will be the only country who will be able to withstand the future pairing of Steph Du-Toit and Etzebeth! 

crazy talk, IMO whitelock, romano and retallick were the top three locks in the spXV and i wouldnt swap them for anyone.

romano a joke in the lineouts??? did u know hes second for most lineout steals in the spXV??? 2nd only to whitelock.
hes not really used as a lineout option for the crusaders, but thats cos the crusaders mix it up a lot between the two whitelocks sam and george and also read. they can still use romano, but hes not as common a atraget as the other three.
in the All Blacks the options will be even more, given that messam, McCaw, read and the two locks are all known lineout options.

saffas are the only ones who dont know retallicks value, cos if anyone thinks hes not up to standard with the tight stuff, obviously didnt watch the chiefs during the finals.
but its all good, saffas rate lady elziabeth a lot and in NZ we just lol at him, especially after his sowetto big zero performance whic saw meyer sub him off quic smart, o_-

hooker and loose head are the only problems, but when i say problem i dont mean a problem like right now, cos hore and woody are more then capable of handlaing anything that comes our way in the RC/4nats, when i say problem i mean it in terms of rebuilding.

coles is adequate, but we can do better, and hopefully ged and hika have a good ITMs to go with their great spXv form.
loose head is the only other area of concern, but the new scrum laws will IMO be a huge benefit to our current crop of looseheads, not woody though, he was always sound, but crockett and ben franks will be stoked to see those rules, as its going to benefit them most of all.

guess all we can do is wait, but i cant help but think things are falling into place nicely, :o)

 Bekker was probably the best performing Lock up until his injury and Etzebeth is the best lock in the world. 

 Yes that what I was thinking. Bekker is surely the best on opposition ball after the retirement of Matfield.

The All Black light five is reallly just one good prop, one good lock and then an extra 3 loose forward fetchers (open side flankers) who masquerade as a tight five..

The All Black game plan is to move the ball away from 1st phase as quickly as possibale by shoveling out to the backs and then preying on turnovers from opposition ball.

This is why the All Blacks are good at rucks because it is allmost a whole forward pack of fetchers, instead of a tight 5.

@shezza,

u mean bekker who was ripped to shreds by whitelock and romano in newalnds??? the same bekker who won 2 of his 7 linouts as whitelock and romano stole the other 5??? o_O

bekker had a great season until his injury, but both romano and whitelock did too and their season was longer as well as the fact they never had kak game the likes of which bekker did against the crusaders.

@sharkbok,
whitelock won more opposition ball then anyone else in 2012 and 2013 in the spXV and at international level. and have u forgotten the dunedin All Black vs Bok test??? i know ive watched that test more times then any saffa here and u should watch it again to see how many lineouts that whitelock steals off the Boks including beks when he comes on.

andrew hore is the only one in the tight 5 reknown for his ball fecthing abilities, the others are their for their work as tight 5 forwards, its why the Boks lost more of their own lineouts 7-3 and scrums 2-0 to the All Blacks last year.

the All Blacks ruck dominance has nothing to do with that illusion of forward pack fetchers, it has to do with the All Blacks punishing training reigme, watch the last 20mins of both dunedin and sowetto tests and u will see the Bok forwards have been run off their feet with numbers at breakdown very low compared to their AB counterparts, u will also see the impact they have no where near what it was the first 20mins of the game. the Abs who started that match also have their impact a little more stagnated too, but not to the extent that the Boks and the rest of the Ab opposition did too.

only two occassions where this wasnt the case, the draw against the wallys and the smashing from england.

 Sasuke an objective analysis of the Newlands test would reveal that Deon Fourie is a poor lineout thrower.

The only SA hooker that is worse at throwing was the Sharks centre turned hooker- I actually forgot his name. 

I very much doubt that Bekker would lose many lineouts of the ball was thrown to him and no an opposition player.

It has been sometime since I saw the test last year in Dunedin last year, but I may check it out again over the weekend.

It is true that the Springbok forwards run out of steam against the Allblacks in the last 20 minutes of tests, but fetcher style of players are typically more mobile than carriers.

We need to put the All Blacks away earlier. Our backline is looking more potent than last year.

We are just missing Goosen who if on the pitch combined with Willie Leroux we shall see some more tries being scored. Although in saying that Morne has been ok this year and LeRoux does compensate for some of Mornes weaknesses.

I think this years 4 nations is going to be great. 

Argentina will be stronger than last year, and I Australia should be much stronger as they have less injuries.

The boks will be stronger, and I think the AllBlacks will still be of the same high level as last year.

I expect the All Blacks to get beat in Australia and in South Africa, but maybe not. It should come down to the wire this year and be the top spectacle in world rugby that is should be.

 @clevermike

I have not ruled out Meyer yet as a coach. He has done some dumb things like initially selecting Bulls players that were not of international standard just because they wore blue or pink.

If Meyer does not improve upon last year and score more tries in the backline I will be very concerned.

The squad does have issues like not having a backup fetcher on the bench. I would have chosen Deon Fourie as backup, or maybe Brussouw who seems to have returned to form albeit not the 2009 level.

Meyer has highlighted the 2 biggest issues of ruck play and backline attack.

I am concerned though that if Louw goes down, the next 2 best fetchers we have are not in the squad- never mind one of them on the bench.

Alberts is a very strong carrier, but I would like to see him substituted around the 60th minute and Deon Fourie brought onto the field. Then it would make it easier to retain the lead if we are winning.

From what I can see backline attack play has improved from last year where the only good game was against Australia with Goosen on the field.

Our backline defence improved as the season went on last year. Crash Ball Taute and Earl Jantjies were a disaster last season.

 I tried to expalin to saSUe how nobody in the world can beat Bekker in the lineouts provided the hooker throws the ball in correctly. Glad the lesson has been repeated as possibly the kiwis could learn through repetition.

Man the kiwis should be a bit concerend as their pack looks pretty dodgy to me. Shut down the backs and its all over bar what their refs can salvage.

@sharbok,

if fouries is such a poor lineout thrower, then why did the bekker and the stormers go all right in the matches before the crusaders???
like i said, watch the dunedin test when bekker comes on and whitelock schools him too, though im sure fourie will get some blam thanks to some creative saffa balming, lolz.

wallabies and Bok matches are always tough, but i expect the All Blacks to win every test macth this year, the combination of the Boks selections and the wallabies perforamcnes v lions, has me unusally feeling more confident about 2013 then ever before.
i remember every saffa here thought Boks would win the sowetto test, only for the All Blacks to turn in an unstoppable juggernaut performance and i feel the same thing with those predicitons, but nothing wrong with it mind u, its only common to for everyone to want to see the undisputed best fall, happens in every sport.

i also dont know that the Boks backline looks better then last year, no goosen and no jp and i dont rate willie le roux, but to be fair, with taute out of the equation, u do have slim pickings so le roux is needed.

not sold on the pumas, they will be rebuilding fo a long time to come, their inclusion has only secured two things and that is an almost dead stop to the number of wooden spoons the Boks have racked up and that they will be stornger for it when they face the NH boys.


@beeno1 aka storminged,
LMFAO, :oD

"Man the kiwis should be a bit concerend as their pack looks pretty dodgy to me. Shut down the backs and its all over bar what their refs can salvage."
theres a reason why u should shut up when the adults are speaking, cos of comments like these.
weve taught u this lesson before, but NZ refs dont ref games the All Blacks are playing, best u stick to not colouring outside the lines in ur ben10 colouring book, its more in line with ur julius maleam rugby nous, :oP

"their refs", classic, :o)