After two rounds of Super Rugby Pacific action, Stephen Donald has identified the battle for All Blacks midfield spots as one of the highlights of the competition so far.
New Zealand have several outstanding players as options for their centre positions with the likes of Jordie Barrett, Quinn Tupaea, Anton Lienert-Brown, Billy Proctor, Timoci Tavatavanawai and Rieko Ioane all doing duty for the All Blacks during the 2025 season.
Barrett, Tupaea, Proctor and Tavatavanawai were all in action during the first two rounds of Super Rugby Pacific while Lienert-Brown and Ioane, who also did duty on the wing for the All Blacks last year, are currently on sabbaticals at Kobelco Kobe Steelers in Japan and Leinster in Ireland respectively.
Meanwhile, utility back Leicester Fainga’anuku returned to New Zealand from an 18-month stint at Top 14 club Toulon and featured on the wing for the All Blacks during last year’s Autumn Nations Series.
Fainga’anuku is back at the Crusaders for Super Rugby and after helping out on the wing in their tournament opener against the Highlanders, Crusaders boss Rob Penney revealed recently that the 26-year-old would be focusing on playing in midfield for the rest of the season.
Over the weekend, the Chiefs clinched a hard-fought 26-23 victory over the Highlanders in their Round Two New Zealand derby in Dunedin.
Tavatavanawai v Tupaea duel one of the highlights
One of the highlights during that clash was the head-to-head battle between the home side’s inside centre Tavatavanawai and Chiefs counterpart Tupaea with the physicality on display a standout feature which impressed ex-All Blacks fly-half Donald.
“I’ve got both Quinn and Tavatavanawai on my (fantasy) team. I wrote down a couple of times live there, the collisions that were happening when Tavatavanawai or Quinn Tupaea were carrying, and often they went after each other, which is great,” he told The Aftermatch with Kirst & Beav.
“It’s a competitive world and they’re both wanting the same thing. And some of those carries were just huge. And you could actually hear the collisions in the grandstand.
“Quinn’s got this ability and Tavatavanawai, to be fair, he’s got it too, he’s never really hit. It’s the leg drive.
“We’ve talked about the size of some of the boys and where their strength comes from. Well, you look at Quinn and it’s all through the hips and he can just ride out tackles.
“Obviously, like Tavatavanawai brilliant over the ball (too).
‘It’s a good problem to have for New Zealand rugby’
“Those two in particular, just went hammer and tongs at each other. And it’s a good problem to have for New Zealand rugby.”
With Scott Robertson axed as the All Blacks’ head coach, there has been lots of speculation about who is going replace him and Jamie Joseph and Dave Rennie are viewed as the favourites for that position.
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Whoever it’s going to be, Donald believes the midfield situation is going to be a nice selection headache to have for the new All Blacks boss.
“Those two in particular, just went hammer and tongs at each other. And it’s a good problem to have for New Zealand rugby,” he said.
“Unfortunately, you can’t get them all on the field at once, but getting the balance right of that All Black midfield is going to be fascinating to see.
“Because we’re only in week two and we’re already seeing some (outstanding) performances from midfielders. And I know we haven’t even got to another couple of All Blacks at the Hurricanes yet (Barrett and Proctor) and how they went.
So, Quinn’s certainly just picking up where he left off last year with the All Blacks.”