TRC 2022 - Team of the Tournament
I sat down to start picking my team of the tournament and quickly ran into a problem. I normally pick units, front row, second row etc, and aim for players that have started most of their games. So we start at the front row and straight away we have a problem because there just isn’t a dominant, starting front row like that. Not including Marx feels crazy but he only started half the games, he came off the bench for the other half. Can I break the rules to pick him? Even if I do, which of the multitude of props he played with do I pick? Montoya and Gallo from Argentina were both consistently great, their other prop a nebbish. De Groot and Taukei'aho for the AB were pretty consistent and while Lomax wasn’t in the same class as Kitshoff or Gallo he would make up a decent front row. But then I’m not picking Marx… Likewise, Am was brilliant and selected in the 13 jersey four times. Thanks to being injured, he missed two games and because of an injury to someone else he played 70+ minutes on the wing. Can I really pick him in my centres after three games? Are he and De Allende as a unit better than Havilli and Ioane?
Carrying on in that theme, there are five contenders for best no 8, from four teams! One missed a game and is still there. In the back three 11 clearly belongs to Boffelli, 15 to Jordy Barrett, no one clearly claimed the 14 jersey though. If Le Roux had played more at 15 he was certainly in with a shout of claiming that spot.
On top of all that, in the first four weeks it went win one, lose one for all the teams. In week five, both games had a lot for all the coaches to worry about and work on. The head-to-heads I would normally se are not as clear as normal.
Rather than naming a team, I’m going to name outstanding players in each unit in alphabetical order. A lot of these didn’t start all the games with injuries and squad rotation (mostly SA but not only). I will comment after each list who I would end up picking based on the list.
- Front Row
- Alaalatoa
- De Groot
- Gallo
- Kitshoff
- Lomax
- Marx
- Montoya
- Taukei'aho
- The AB front row is probably too young, although they are the only complete unit. So they get the nod and Marx is a victim of the rotation policy. Sorry dude, next year you might not be the best hooker but this year you were by some margin. But they’re racking up the caps before France next year to get experience in the squad…
- Second Row
- Eztebth
- Retallik
- Whitelock
- This has me picking the AB pair. I’m ok with that I think.
- De Jaager was on the edge of being selected but had too many anonymous games for me. The mess for the Wallabies was profound, the Pumas locks were decent but were dominated in their games against the Boks and the ABs.
- Back Row
- Du Toit
- Gonzales
- Kolisi
- Matero
- Savea
- Smith, Kwagga
- Valentini
- Wiesse
- Both Samu and McReight deserve honourable mentions here. Samu only started two games and played limited minutes in some others. He was certainly great when he started. McReight started four games and racked up three good ones (including playing really well in a bad defeat, one of the few). He seemed to (unfairly IMO) get blamed for the rest of the forwards having a shocker in the second game against the Boks. He was playing his fifth test and got brutalised by a free-roaming Bok back row always playing on the front foot. Far more experienced 7’s than him have suffered the same fate.
- I guess I’m picking the Boks here because they’re the only complete unit. I’m ok with that, they were impressive in most of their games but, see below.
- If I had free rein I’d probably actually pick Frizzell, Papali'i and Savea or Frizzell, Savea and Sotutu. We never saw this line up for the AB and mostly they didn’t play enough games to make it onto my list but I think they’re the best combinations we saw and the AB back row dominated the Boks back row (Marx was the extra threat they couldn’t manage in the game they lost to the Boks).
- Half Backs
- Smith, Aaron
- Mo’unga
- this was really the only set of positions where it was easy to pick a unit.
- You can argue Henrickse was unlucky not to get on the list, but de Klerk was preferred as a starter twice when fit and, arguably, Hendrickse's kicking was a major contributor to their loss in Australia. Smith has lost a step or two and can’t really turn mediocre ball into good ball with a darting run any more but his passing is as crisp as ever, his kicking is solid and he never turned good ball into bad ball.
- Midfield
- Am (he might only have actually played 3 matches and 10 minutes in 13 but he was, head and shoulders, the best player in that position)
- Havili
- Ikitau
- Ioane
- I would have picked the AB pair as they’re the only pair here.
- Ioane had problems and is really a winger. I think he made Jordan in particular look poor by his failure to pass to a player in space. However, he improved over the championship and while he’s not test quality as a centre, he is getting there. (Personally I’d consider picking him or Reece in the 11 shirt, Jordan in 14 and a genuine centre, or Jordy in 12 and Havili in 13 if he can move out.)
- Back Three
- B. Barrett (he was only picked as a starter once but played there often and always looked really dangerous)
- J. Barrett
- Boffelli
- Le Roux
- This is three fullbacks and one left wing. Not a great back three!
- Imhoff looked great but only played two games. Jordan looked good when he got the ball, strong under the high ball but tackled poorly in two games. I think he was made to look worse because Ioane is a terrible passer. He’s probably the best right wing. Koriobete looked good a lot of the time in open play, then failed to score too many tries. In the last game he was under no pressure and just put his foot into touch… this was at a point when Australia were 17-0 down in the first half. It might not have changed the result but you can’t help but wonder “what if?” Moodie looked pretty decent for SA but only played three games. He wasn’t such an outstanding player as Am to get up into the main list.
- I guess I’m picking the AB back three with one-and-a-half players in the list. Clarke, Jordan and J. Barrett.
- With free rein I’d pick Ioane, Reece and Jordan but we never saw this combination play.
So there we have it. A really long list of notable front row and back row players. Much shorter lists in the other units. There were others who had good performances in one or two games. If you look at my preferred back row, I picked three players between the two AB lists that aren’t mentioned as notable players (Frizzell, Papali'i and Sotutu). They played one of two games each so weren’t getting onto the list but were, in my opinion best in position, ahead of players who played many more minutes.
There has been a lot in the NH press about there being nothing to fear from these sides. The Boks might not play creative, exciting rugby but they still win most of their games. Argentina appointed a new head coach a month before TRC started are still improving but they’re not going to be an easy beat, particularly when you stop and think about what they achieved. New Zealand have problems in the coaching box. However, for whatever reason the players have started to gel. There’s a plan on both sides of the ball that’s visibly starting to come together. Is it good enough to beat Ireland and France? Doesn’t matter right now, they’ve got time to bed those systems in before they meet either of them again. Will Scotland, Wales or England bd a challenge? Much though I’d like to think the Welsh will be, I’m not convinced. I’ve left Australia out of this so far. I’m not sure they know who their best players are in too many positions. And many of them are key positions: 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13 and 15. If you’re New Zealand and you’re trying to decide between Mo’unga and Beaudy at 10, that’s just an embarrassment of world class players. Most of their selection issues in the back row are not critical either, they’re about style and balance between very good to great players. I think their problems at 12 and 13 are more serious, although they have an insane injury list in these positions and if Foster is awake and these players come back next year they’ve got some excellent answers coming their way. Australia don’t have that luxury, they’re choosing youngsters or old players who get crocked. They’re choosing between players who aren’t performing their core skills too many times. Or worse they’re picking great players in one position out of position in the (usually forlorn) hope they can deliver there. This is made worse when one bad game out of position sees them dropped from the squad. We have seen players change position before, typically you expect it to take about a year - there are exceptions but they’re rare. This looks like a condemnation of the current coach but it’s actually a condemnation of the previous coach and RA and their development pathways. Just playing Super Rugby is not enough the step beneath that is such a big step down that it’s not a good training ground. Australia are the only team that the NH can fairly genuinely dismiss as “not a threat” at the moment. Argentina might be “not a threat, yet.”
I did end up with a team of the tournament though:
- Lomax
- Taukei’aho
- De Groot
- Whitelock
- Retallik
- Kolisi
- Du Toit
- Smith
- Smith
- Mo’unga
- Clarke
- Havili
- Ioane
- Jordan
- Barrett
If I didn’t pick by unit, I’d have a different looking team, and since I’m relaxing that rule, I’m going to relax the “must play almost all the games” rule too. That team looks like this:
- Gallo
- Marx
- De Groot
- Whitelock
- Etzebeth
- Gonzales
- Kolisi (note the change in shirt number simply puts him into the traditional open side number)
- Savea
- Smith
- Mo’unga
- Boffelli
- Havili
- Am
- Jordan
- Barrett
I think this is a much better representation of the star players. Kitshoff is a victim of the rotation policy - he’s arguably a better player but Gallo started all six tests and gets the nod for that. Kitshoff wasn’t so much better to beat him out. Marx was that much better, although Taukei’aho is certainly on the subs bench. Retallik is unlucky to miss out but Whitelock and Etzebeth both started all six games, he missed two. The back row is a hodgepodge. All the other 8’s are unlucky, but Savea was so great he has to be included. Likewise, although Kolisi had a couple of quiet games (one when the AB picked Scott Barrett as a hybrid lock-blindside to counter the Marx+Boks back row threat, one where the whole of the Boks seemed out of sorts) but he started all six games and was pretty much the star player in the other four. Gonzales was awesome for Argentina in most of his games, not necessarily in all of the halves but he never had a poor whole game. Boffelli and Am pretty much picked themselves from the list. Jordan was the best of a relatively poor bunch, but when he got ball he showed why he’s there and, as mentioned above, there’s a sense he was cost opportunities by Ioane so I’ve accounted for that a bit here too. Tight call between Jordy and Le Roux, but starting five vs starting three tipped the balance. Although I’m not naming most of my bench, Kriel is going to be on it as the utility back. I think he started in three different jerseys and played in four different positions. He wasn’t a star in all of them but he never looked it of place. He may not want to be a utility sub, but he’s going to be great at it.
So there we go. A team that fits my normal rules and a team that better reflects the way the matches went in my opinion. Both are heavy with All Blacks and Boks, as you might expect. The individual list still lacks any Wallabies really Valentini is the only one where there’s a debate. He always looked good but head to head Savea beat him and stats wise in the other contests against the same foes Savea beat him out too.
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