Howlett on wing for All Blacks opener

THERE were a few surprises in the All Black side announced to face Italy in their opening game of the Rugby World Cup in Marseille on Saturday.

Most pertinent of those from an Irish perspective — given his move to Munster in January — is the selection of Doug Howlett on the right wing in place of Josevata Rokocoko, while the returning Conrad Smith is at inside-centre with Luke McAllister outside him.

Going by the remarks of coach Graham Henry, however, none of those who won selection on this occasion should be taking too much for granted.

“I don’t think you should read too much into that,” he said of the choice of Howlett over Rokocoko. “There’s a lot of good players vying for positions. We thought Doug played particularly well in the Air New Zealand Cup before we left, and this is just a pat on the back for him for what he’s achieved. He hadn’t been in the top 15 for a while. But there’s a lot of rugby to be played, we’ll make decisions as we go along.”

Nevertheless, he did concede that this was near enough his strongest 15.

On the selection of Smith and McAllister, assistant coach Wayne Smith, the backs specialist, explained the reasoning.

“We wanted to play Conrad Smith, he hasn’t played much rugby for the All-Blacks this year. When we made that decision (to play him at outside-centre), we decided that Luke McAllister was the best 12 to play with him. That was a very effective pairing in last year’s tour of France and the UK, so they get the opportunity again.

“It’s great to have Conrad back — by his own admission he’s probably in the best condition of his life, he’s done a hell of a lot of work, he’s hungry and up for the challenge and this is his opportunity. He’s had a long conditioning window due to his injury, and he’s used that wisely. He’s a very self-aligned individual, he doesn’t take a lot of pushing, uses his time wisely in a rugby sense and outside of the game — he’s been admitted to the Bar, for example.”

Another close call was at hooker, where Keven Mealamu gets the nod over Anton Oliver.

Said Henry: “We’ve decided to start with Kevin, we’re trying to get Anton a wee bit more explosive. We had a couple of games back home prior to leaving and he played loose forward in the last game, played very explosively. We’re trying to work on that, and coming off the bench is an opportunity to do that again. It’s just a way of trying to meet the objective.”

The objective, of course, is a win over Italy, a convincing win if possible, but a win first and foremost. “We have a lot of respect for the Italians, they’re playing good rugby. If we’re going to play to our maximum we’re going to have to subdue them, and that’s not going to be easy. It could be a hell of a test match. Quite frankly they should have beaten the Irish the other day; they had the better of the game. We’d like to win it and we’d like to play well, but we’re going to set the foundations.

“I think the message is, to those who read the newspapers or listen to the radio, that that’s what it is. This is a good side we’re playing against, and I don’t think we should write it any other way. They played well in the Six Nations last season. I think they’ve progressed hugely as a rugby-playing country, and the Six Nations has enabled them to do that. We respect them, they’re a very good rugby team. We’re in for a hard game at the weekend.”

Given the conditions in Marseille — hot, dry, windy — Graham expects that he will have to make full use of his bench with seven individuals chosen for their impact potential.

“It’s likely to be warm, climbing close to 30 degrees. We’re playing at 1.45 so we must make sure they have plenty of water, and use the bench. We’ll see how the game is going, we’d like to use the bench, bring on fresh players. They’ve made a difference in the games we’ve played this year, hopefully they’ll continue to do so.”

Hooker Oliver, already mentioned, is one of those who will make such an impact; among the others, according to forwards coach Steve Hansen, will be giant lock Reuben Thorne and ‘loosie’ Sione Lauaki, the young tearaway Tonga-born flanker. “Reuben will cover six and lock,” Steve explained, “And yes, Sione is seen as a guy we want to bring on and have a big impact, but it’s the same for all of our bench. The expectations from themselves and from the rest of the team is that they come on and make a difference. Whether that’s changing the tempo of the game or whatever, they’re all expected to make a difference, all seven.”