{"id":602739,"date":"2026-04-12T20:47:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T20:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/602739\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T20:47:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T20:47:16","slug":"phil-gifford-cameron-roigard-looks-a-future-all-blacks-skipper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/602739\/","title":{"rendered":"Phil Gifford: Cameron Roigard looks a future All Blacks skipper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two out of two for Roigard is an excellent start, but in a new age where the All Blacks are the money tree for New Zealand Rugby, a third requirement is also key \u2014 an ability to communicate well. Roigard, intelligent and articulate, ticks that box, too.<\/p>\n

Best of all is that on the field, in the cauldron of a game, Roigard stays mentally cool and sharp.<\/p>\n

In the 69th minute of the Blues match<\/a>, he scored a try from a quick tap that was taken, as is possible now, not in the exact position the penalty was awarded.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just following the rules,\u201d was Roigard\u2019s modest assessment after the game.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s true but not all players are clear-headed enough to take advantage of the rules when under pressure.<\/p>\n

Locking it in<\/p>\n

The teams in the top-six playoff spots didn\u2019t change over the weekend but there was a feeling of even more solidity for the Canes, now in first spot on 29 points, ahead of the Chiefs in second on 26, with the Blues third on 25. The Brumbies\u2019 14-10 win over the Highlanders<\/a> leaves them in fourth place, while the Reds\u2019 31-26 home victory over the Crusaders<\/a> places them fifth, while the Crusaders are clinging to sixth. The top six is where a team needs to be to qualify for the knockout games in June.<\/p>\n

Pretty much the whole package<\/p>\n

Finding weak spots in the Hurricanes becomes increasingly more difficult as their self belief grows each week. The Blues are an extremely well drilled, powerful side but ultimately couldn\u2019t find an area in which to unsettle the Canes<\/a>. The lineout driving that had served the Blues so well was negated, to the point in the 46th minute where roles were reversed and the Canes\u2019 powerhouse hooker Asafo Aumua directed a rolling maul and scored. <\/p>\n

In the back three, fullback Callum Harkin, back from a period recovering from concussion, had a brilliant game, starting by showing great speed in the fourth minute to score a try off a long, well-placed pass from first-five Ruben Love.<\/p>\n

A highlight for Hamilton<\/p>\n

In what amounts to a match maker\u2019s dream, the feature match of the next round on Saturday night in Hamilton will see the Canes take on the Chiefs, who were hugely impressive in their runaway 62-17 victory over Moana Pasifika<\/a> in Rotorua.<\/p>\n

A match so one-sided wasn\u2019t the perfect place to make a judgement, but it would be churlish not to say that Chiefs second-five Quinn Tupaea had a game that could only be called brilliant. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s demonstrated many times this season that defensively, he\u2019s a brick wall, and in Rotorua, he unleashed the other qualities in his rugby arsenal, from his finishing abilities, with two tries, to some expert feeding to support players.<\/p>\n

It was a great match, too, for Damian McKenzie, who at first-five provided a spectacular reminder that he still has the pace and imagination to light up the field, as well as scoring two tries to become the Chiefs\u2019 all-time highest try-scorer. Any talk of the demise of McKenzie\u2019s All Black career feels hugely premature.<\/p>\n

The heat goes on<\/p>\n

In sweltering temperatures in Brisbane, the Crusaders ultimately could not contain the Reds, who won 31-26. The trip to Australia is going to be a tough one for the Crusaders, who now have to fly to the other side of the sunburned land to play the Western Force in Perth. <\/p>\n

The Crusaders\u2019 game in Brisbane had far too many mistakes, and without the genius of Will Jordan to turn the attacking tide, or Tamaiti Williams to dominate the scrums, winning the match in Perth will need all their renowned team spirit.<\/p>\n

Game of one quarter<\/p>\n

The first three-quarters of the Highlanders-Brumbies game in Dunedin was both frustrating and Mogadon-level tedious to watch. <\/p>\n

The Highlanders courage, up against the best Australian team in Super Rugby, was admirable, but both teams, playing in perfect conditions under a roof, fumbled and stumbled to a stupefying degree.<\/p>\n

Then it was as if a magic switch had been flipped for the last quarter. Behind 7-3 at halftime the Landers produced a thrilling 63rd minute try by wing Jona Nareki, first-five Cam Miller converted, the home team was ahead 10-7, and the upset of the round looked likely. <\/p>\n

The run home was edge of the seat exciting, but sadly for the Landers, eight minutes from time their energetic hooker George Bell was sinbinned for a head clash while tackling towering lock Nick Frost. <\/p>\n

The Brumbies clicked into ruthless gear, smashing forward until loose forward Luke Reimer scored the try, converted by Ryan Lonergan for a 14-10 victory to the Brumbies.<\/p>\n

Purely technical but potentially game changing<\/p>\n

The binning of Bell by referee Ben O\u2019Keeffe followed a high tackle by Bell that was entirely without malice. But It underlined the problem for New Zealand players about who they need to please, their coach or the referee. For almost a decade, World Rugby has instructed officials to clamp down on high tackles to avoid the risk of concussion from heads, or a tackler\u2019s shoulder and a ball carrier\u2019s head, bashing together.<\/p>\n

Where that becomes a major problem for Kiwi teams is that most of our coaches want tacklers to envelop the ball as well as the man, so the ball can\u2019t be passed on. Old school low tackles around the legs, or \u201cchop\u201d tackles, are often discouraged. The most costly example was All Blacks captain Sam Cane\u2019s red card in the 2023 World Cup final. World Rugby won\u2019t be making any changes. How the conflicting requirements are resolved will be an issue Dave Rennie now faces with the All Blacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two out of two for Roigard is an excellent start, but in a new age where the All…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[293536,3265,64,63,9658,3200,293537,21503,57677,10569,32482,13649,10956,6980,100089,760,144864,85,1974,1643,85271,3018,183337,35022,25904,3605],"class_list":{"0":"post-602739","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-aligned","9":"tag-all","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-blacks","13":"tag-cameron","14":"tag-deservedly","15":"tag-future","16":"tag-gifford","17":"tag-hurricanes","18":"tag-last","19":"tag-looks","20":"tag-pacific","21":"tag-phil","22":"tag-roigard","23":"tag-rugby","24":"tag-skipper","25":"tag-sports","26":"tag-stars","27":"tag-super","28":"tag-table","29":"tag-team","30":"tag-topping","31":"tag-weekend","32":"tag-wellington","33":"tag-with"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}