Talent depth will always be a key question emerging from a Rugby World Cup year and the subsequent player exodus, but not something that the All Blacks traditionally have all that much trouble with. While there’s often a budding superstar ready to make that jump, there are two positions that have former All Black Justin Marshall concerned in 2024.
The experience that departed New Zealand following the World Cup was inevitably a dramatic loss; not just core members of the on-field trusted performers unit but the off-field brains trust as well.
Players like Sam Whitelock and Aaron Smith were stalwarts in the All Blacks for well over a decade and boast significant cap records to their names along with world titles and more illustrious individual and team accomplishments.
Whitelock and his traditional locking partner Brodie Retallick vacating a second row in which they had mortgages on for so long has left concerns over how prepared the next generation of New Zealand’s locking talent is for the bright lights of the international arena.
Similarly, at halfback, Smith outperformed the advances of many young talented No. 9s who have since found homes in France and Japan.
The injury to Hurricanes’ young gun Cam Roigard threw more concern over the state of the All Blacks No. 9 jersey in the post-Smith era, but Marshall, someone who knows all about that jersey, dismissed those concerns, instead identifying two other positions that he sees a dangerous lack of depth in.
“I don’t feel that we’ve got massive depth, to a degree, in our flyhalf area,” Marshall told Newstalk ZB.
“10 is a jersey that has been dominated to a degree, in the last decade, by Beauden Barrett and Richie Mo’unga. There’s been little intros and opportunities for the likes of Damian McKenzie but they’ve been few and far between. Stephen Perofeta was messed around by Ian Foster.
“Below those two, there’s been no real progress.”
The impending return of Beauden Barrett offers plenty of questions in regards to his potential role in an All Blacks setup. Meanwhile, within Super Rugby Pacific, the Highlanders have a former Welsh international running their attack, the Crusaders are yet to field their best No. 10 but he’s also leaving at the end of the year, and the Hurricanes have been performing exceptionally well with the steady hand and reliability of one-time All Black Brett Cameron.
Marshall’s second position of concern could be found just outside the first receiver.
“Another area that does concern me, to a degree, is centre. We’ve had to switch a winger, a world-class winger, probably one of the fastest in the world, into centre because we never replaced Conrad Smith.
“Jack Godhue with his injury problems was seen as being possibly that replacement. But, to that end, there’s been nobody else that’s come through and been absolutely devastating.
“I thought possibly Leicester Fainga’anuku could have been that answer, but obviously he’s moved on too.
“Those two positions would be the two I’d be most concerned about, 10 and 13, that we don’t have enough depth in those jerseys; not that we don’t have quality players that under Scott Robertson could come in and realize their true potential internationally.”
