Israel Dagg Form Timely

Israel Dagg Form Timely

The unfortunate injuries to Waisake Naholo and Cory Jane at the weekend emphasised the importance of Israel Dagg in this Rugby World Cup season.

Dagg has suffered from injuries, a lengthy recuperative spell and limited game time and there were doubts in some sections of the rugby public that he'd ever recapture his best form. He hasn't yet, but there were a few signs in the test against Argentina that the selectors' perserverance with the 46 test fullback is likely to be justified.

And they need him. Naholo is probably finished for the season and with Jane succumbing to another injury, the options for the right wing spot in the major matches are suddenly trimmed. With the selectors preferring experience in all positions, Jane's injury might be the more damaging, but with Dagg inching his way back to better form at fullback, at least he provides the selectors with the option of Ben Smith wearing the number 14.

The win against Argentina saw an improvement throughout the All Black team. The stuttering display the previous week was slammed back in the memory. The Pumas attack was limited and easily contained by the home team, except for the lineout drive which produced two tries. Guess what area will be given a bit of attention this week in Johannesburg.

One of the best features of the game was the defence of New Zealand. The tackling was extraordinary, not just stopping attacking players, but belting them backwards as each defender picked his target area and powered into it. It was most impressive and gave the support players every opportunity to snare turnover ball.

As I mentioned in the preview to the Argentine test, the faith shown by Steve Hansen in the older players needed to be repayed in Christchurch. They all did exactly that. This weekend, up against a fired up Springbok pack, they'll need to do so again, only more so.

Incidentally, if the All Black pack for the test is Mealamu, Woodcock, Owen Franks, Retallick, Whitelock, McCaw, Read and Kaino the average age will be 30. For the 2003 World Cup England selected a pack of similar age and they were quickly dubbed "Dad's Army" by the Aussie media. They won the trophy.

One of the pack was Lawrence Dallaglio who admitted they were a relatively old group of players, but that meant they'd been together for a long time, had a great team spirit, enjoyed each other’s company and trusted each other on the field.

The All Blacks are displaying those same qualities.

The All Black squad for the test in Johannesburg is:

Hookers: Dane Coles, Keven Mealamu and Codie Taylor
Props: Wyatt Crockett, Ben Franks, Owen Franks, Nepo Laulala and Tony Woodcock
Locks: James Broadhurst, Brodie Retallick, Luke Romano and Samuel Whitelock
Loose forwards: Jerome Kaino, Richie McCaw, Liam Messam, Kieran Read and Victor Vito
Halfbacks: Andy Ellis, TJ Perenara and Aaron Smith
First five–eighths: Beauden Barrett, Colin Slade and Lima Sopoaga
Midfielders: Ryan Crotty, Malakai Fekitoa, Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith
Outside backs: Israel Dagg, Charles Piutau, Julian Savea and Ben Smith

ends

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