Jason Pine: A solid start to the All Blacks' new regime

Which players yesterday put the most pressure on for places in the All Blacks side for the Rugby Championship?

If we assume the side that played against England was the first-choice 23, who put their hand up highest yesterday for a place in the 23 for the next test against Argentina in Wellington in 3 weeks' time?

I think anyone would say Billy Proctor did.

He made a really, really good debut at centre, good running lines, nice hands under pressure, albeit against a Fijian side that didn't get up in his face like England did to Jordie Barrett and Rieko Ioane when they were here.

One of the qualities of great centres is the ability to set up their outsides, the way Joe Stanley, Frank Bunce and Conrad Smith did.

Again, Billy Proctor looks like the type of player who can do that, as well as break the line himself. He's an eyes-up player and a very quick decision-maker -so he's one.

I'd say Cortez Ratima is making a pretty good case for inclusion in the 23. It sounds like TJ Perenara will be back for the Rugby Championship and Noah Hotham did well on debut yesterday too. Throw in Finlay Christie and there's a bit of a logjam building at halfback.

One thing I'd love to see, maybe on the end of year tour, is the Cam Roigard / Cortez Ratima halfback double punch.

But even before Roigard comes back, I think Cortez Ratima is ideally suited right now to the impact role off the All Blacks bench.

The scrum was good yesterday, with an almost entirely different pack in action, the lineout was certainly better than the shambles at Eden Park and they conceded just one try against a side renowned for their attacking unpredictability and strike power.

So, a lot of boxes were ticked.

There is, of course, the caveat of how much we can take from a game against Fiji, who, while they've improved in recent years, didn't look anything like the same side that beat England and Australia last year.

But you can only play what's in front of you, and the All Blacks did that.

And finally- no cards, red or yellow, in the first three tests under Razor. Compare that to last year, with Sam Cane's red and Shannon Frizell's yellow in the World Cup final, Codie Taylor and Aaron Smith's yellows against Ireland in the quarter-final, Ethan de Groot's red against Namibia in pool play, Will Jordan's yellow against France in the opening game and Sam Cane's yellow and Scott Barrett's red in the warm-up match against South Africa.

5 yellow and three red cards in the last eight test of 2023, none so far this year.

That's a sign of pretty good discipline under the new regime.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from Newstalk ZEDB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Which players yesterday put the most pressure on for places
in the Rugby Championship. If we assume that the side
that played against England was the first choice twenty three
who put their hand up highest yesterday for a place
in the twenty three for the next test against Argentina
in three weeks, I think anyone would say that Billy

(00:35):
Proctor did a really really good debut at center. Good
running lines, nice hands under pressure or be it against
a Fiji inside that didn't get up in his face
like England did to Jordi Barrett and Ricaue Jowani when
they were here. But one of the great qualities of
great centers is the ability to set up there outsides
the way Joe Stanley used to Frank Buntz Conrad Smith. Again,

(00:56):
Billy Proctor looks like the type of player who can
do that as well as break the line himself when
the situation allows. He's an eyes up player, very quick
decision maker, so he's won. I'd say Cortez Ratima is
making a pretty good case for inclusion in the twenty three.
Sounds like t J Petnata will be back for the
Rank B Championship and no I hope them did well
on debut yesterday as well throwing fin Lake Christian. There's

(01:18):
a bit of a lock jam building, isn't there? At
half back. One thing I would love to see and
hopefully we will on the end of season tour is
the cam roy Guard Courtiers Latima half back double punch.
But I think even before Royguard comes back, Courteiz Lutima
is ideally suited right now to the impact role off
The All Blacks bench scrum was good yesterday with an
almost entirely different pack. The line out was certainly better

(01:39):
than the shambles at Eden Park, and the All Black
Suns needed just the one try against the side renowned
for their attacking, unpredictability and strike power, so a lot
of boxes ticked. There is of course, the caveat of
how much we can take from a game against Figi, who,
while they have improved in recent years, didn't look anything
like the same side that beat England and Australia last
year when they played yesterday. But you can only play

(02:01):
what's in front of you, and the All Blacks did that,
and finally before we go to the lines. No cars,
no cards, red or yellow cards in the first three
tests under Scott Robertson. Now compare that to last year.
Sam Kane's red and Shannon Frazelle's yellow in the World
Cup final, Cody Taylor and Aaron Smith's yellows against Ireland

(02:22):
in the quarterfinal, Ethan de groot a red card against
Namibia and Paul Play at the World Cup, Will Jordan's
yellow against France in the opening game, and in that
warm up game against South Africa, Sam Kane got a
yellow and Scott Barrett got a red. That's five yellow
and three red cards in the last eight test matches
of last year, none at all in the first three

(02:43):
test matches of this year. That is a sign of
pretty good discipline, isn't it under the new regime.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
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