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Footy Wrap Week 20 The things about being a full-blown rugby tragic is that there are basically no weeks off. Excepting the fallow, rugbyless months of December and January, here in NZ there is basically footy for all of the 10 months in-between. And just because the Super Rugby Pacific season, glorious as it was, has ended, and the All Blacks test season doesn’t start til next week, it doesn’t meet your humble scribe takes a week off, o no. For starters - Monday brought the first ABs squad of the year, with Scott ‘Razor’ Robertson naming a largely predictable, but slightly bolder than I had expected, 35 man squad, whose most notable omissions were Crusaders SRP champions David Havili and Ethan Blackadder (both exceptional at the business end of the season) alone with Blues openside Dalton Papali’i. To be honest, I wouldn’t read too much into these non-selections - Razor knows these Crusaders stalwarts very well, and is likely looking to use a 3-test series against a depleted French squad (without participants in the Top 14 final this weekend) to test out some new blood, and also likely to give them a rest after shouldering a heavy workload this season. Papali’i was thrown a lifeline being brought in as injury cover for Chiefs skipper Luke Jacobson - likewise, Crusaders number 8 Christian Lio-Willie in for an injured Wallace Sititi. Otherwise, the big news was in the (widely predicted, and popular) selections of outstanding Hurricanes flyer DuPlessis Kirifi, and big Chiefs prop Ollie Norris, plus giant, Dutch-born Highlanders’ lock Fabian Holland and robust backline utility Timoci Tavatavanawai. The re-selection of second-five Quinn Tupaea was fitting reward for an outstanding season and return from a a horrific injury (screw you, Wallaby Darcy Swain), while one pick literally no-one saw coming was that of former Crusader, now Chiefs hooker Brodie McAlister as the third rake - likely as a placeholder for the injured Asafo Aumua. I actually have a theory about the front rowers selected - the props are, for the most part, exceptionally tall (Tamaiti Williams a massive 196cm, Pasilio Tosi 195cm, Norris 195cm - Fletcher Newell the shortest at 186cm). This both helps atone for a ‘shorter than usual for a test side’ second and back row, helping with the lineout lifting, and means that all three 183cm hookers (Codie Taylor, Samisoni Taukei’aho, McAlister) will be flanked by sizeable props - I have faith in forwards coach Jason Ryan - he knows what he’s doing, and there will be strategy and stats driving it - watch this space. The other curious thing about the squad is how light it is on wingers (Caleb Clarke and Sevu Reece the only specialists selected), as well as loose forwards (just 5 named), while there are 6 specialist midfielders. I think this clearly opens the way for the likes of Tavatavanawai and Rieko Ioane to feature on the wings, in Ioane’s case, without the sense of it being a demotion from Razor - all about the optics. I am expecting this side to make pretty short work of a weakened French squad, and for Razor to use this opportunity to grow the base talent pool, not just handing out caps, but certainly giving the experience of being in ABs camp to an expanded group of players - I like it. There were also three significant games of international footy played - the British and Irish Lions way out West playing the Western Force in Perth, the Maori All Blacks taking on Eddie Jones’ Japan in Tokyo (ex-All Black Leon MacDonald this week named as his assistant), and a Barbarians side taking on the might of the World Champion Springboks in Cape Town. I had rather hoped for some fiercely contested, high-quality footy from these matchups - unfortunately all three descended into fairly farcical, high-scoring mis-match blowouts. The Force and Japan both started fairly well, but ran out of steam long before the final whistle - indeed, the Maori trailed 17-15 at half time, before rallying to power to a 53-20 full time win, while the Lions chalked up a hefty 54-7 victory, with young English breakaway Henry Pollock catching the eye - he could yet force his way into the test side, at least onto the bench, with his combination of strength, speed, skill and relentless work ethic. The final fixture of the weekend saw the Barbarians invitational side playing South Africa - the BaBas having a strong roster including a lot of All Blacks and NZ players - Sam Cane, Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Shannon Frizell, Hoskins Sotutu, Mark Tele’a, Leicester Fainga’anuku - and you would have to say - not many of them enhanced their reputations in a horribly one sided 54-7 trouncing by the Boks. Young Chiefs pivot Josh Jacomb found out the hard way about the level up in quality in facing test opposition, with an error-strewn display, while Sotutu looked largely uninterested, and worse - not 100% fit as they were bested in all facets of play (set piece, breakdown, kicking) by a Boks side who still looked, if anything, just a little rusty - they will get much, much better over the course of the season. So, three games of utterly inessential rugby, that all had their moments, and a bunch of young men selected (or re-selected) into the All Blacks - huge for them and their families, and I can’t wait to watch their ‘journeys’ unfold as the season gets underway. I would imagine Razor will be fairly conservative in his initial selections and just look to re-establish connections and combinations, all the while looking to play an attractive, fast-paced game with plenty of continuity and ball in play, while still looking to bed in the basis of a quality test side - a rock solid set piece, effective territorial and kicking game, defensive pressure, pass and catch - can’t wait!! I am picking he is likely to start Blues veteran Beauden Barrett in the pivot, with Damian McKenzie coming off the bench in the final quarter, while the other key areas of interest for me will be who is selected in the midfield, and off the bench. Jeremy Taylor, your “no weeks off!” footy correspondent.

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