All Blacks midfielder Leicester Fainga’anuku is in the frame to play the Wallabies at Eden Park on Saturday as the home side attempts to find a consistent attacking threat that has escaped them so far in the Rugby Championship.
The blockbusting Fainga’anuku, yet to represent the All Blacks after returning home from two years at French club Toulon, has been a powerful force for Tasman in the NPC and may prove irresistible to the selectors this week.
Fainga’anuku’s last game for the All Blacks was the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarterfinal victory over Ireland, during which he scored a try when starting on the left wing.
The 25-year-old is now considered more of a midfielder than a wing and his lack of international experience in a position which is tough defensively, and time out of the All Blacks environment, means he is probably more likely to be a bench option than a starter against Australia.
The Wallabies also possess a deadly attacker in the form of former league player Joseph-Aukuso Sua’ali’i who has the potential to expose someone still getting to grips with the realities of international rugby.
Billy Proctor is the current incumbent All Blacks centre outside second-five Jordie Barrett, but the selectors may go for something different after the 43-10 demolition by the Springboks recently, with Rieko Ioane and Anton Lienert-Brown favourites to contest the No.13 jersey.
Of that pair, Lienert-Brown may be the more likely option as Ioane, dropped from the match-day squad against the Boks in Wellington, is now seen as more of a left wing option.
Australia will arrive at Eden Park, where they have not beaten the All Blacks since 1986, with a backline that is one of the best in the Rugby Championship and will test the home side in ways the Boks could not.
Backs coach Jason Holland, who addressed the media today after the All Blacks trained in light rain at North Harbour Stadium, was asked about Sua’ali’i and the potential of Fainga’anuku to face him.
“Joseph is an unbelievable talent with some of the stuff he’s doing,” Holland said. “Leicester brings the same with his physicality and ability to beat people. We’re really focusing hard as backs especially on our ability to beat people one on one… that’s really important.”
The team’s review into the humiliation in Wellington will likely have raised a series of issues but the coaches will be focused on the critical few, including how their men use the ball and build pressure.
“There were times especially in the [second] South Africa game… where we give the ball back to the opposition when we didn't need to,” Holland said. “Whether that’s a kick too often or losing the battle in the air – they are a couple of key things where we feel the pressure is released on the opposition.”
The make-up of the All Blacks’ bench also requires change to combat what have become final-quarter collapses.
A more experienced line-up there will likely reap big benefits – that should bring Fainga’anuku, who has a World Cup campaign under his belt, into the frame, along with returning lock Patrick Tuipulotu.
Damian McKenzie is also a good chance to return to the bench, with Will Jordan more likely to start at fullback after he wore the No.14 jersey in Wellington recently. Caleb Clarke could be in the frame for a wing spot alongside Leroy Carter, who played well on the left on debut against the Boks.
For halfback Cam Roigard, who is likely to start after recovering from a stress fracture in his right foot which has kept him out of the Rugby Championship thus far, the defeat at the Cake Tin was “a tough pill to swallow".
"We pride ourselves on performing every week. We got a few things wrong in that Test match. We always want to perform to make New Zealand proud. We’ve had some tough conversations."
They would have come during and after the team’s review yesterday and Roigard added: “There was an edge in some of those conversations – talking about standards and expectations and how we can get better so we don’t have the same mistakes this weekend.”
Roigard described the Wallabies as “battle hardened” after they narrowly lost to the British and Irish Lions in July and beat the Boks in Johannesburg last month.
“They’ve grown a lot in confidence as a backline. They have had the same combinations and Sua’ali’i is getting better and better each week which I guess was always expected as he hasn’t played rugby union for too long.
“With Joe Schmidt coaching them they’ll have every confidence that they can beat us.”
The All Blacks defended their fortress in the first Test against the Boks earlier this month to extend their 31-year undefeated streak there to 51 Tests.
Australia, the current Rugby Championship leaders, will stay alive in the Bledisloe should they win on Saturday, with a trip to Perth to come.
As far as challenges go, New Zealand's closest rivals may be the ideal opposition for a side still processing the record thrashing at the hands of the Boks.
“Obviously the boys hurt last week and they’re clear about what the Bledisloe means,” Holland said. “It’s massive for us.”
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