{"id":63807,"date":"2025-08-13T00:31:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T00:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/63807\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T00:31:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T00:31:08","slug":"jason-ryan-sizes-up-all-blacks-enforcer-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/63807\/","title":{"rendered":"Jason Ryan sizes up All Blacks\u2019 enforcer options"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Since Jerome Kaino<\/a>, the All Blacks<\/a>\u2018 No.6 jersey has seen many contenders attempt to stake their claim. In 2025, the All Blacks coaches have taken a different direction with their selections.<\/p>\n

Kaino\u2019s international retirement in 2017 triggered a rotating door for Kiwi blindside flankers with international ambitions, something the new coaching regime has inherited.<\/p>\n

The 2019 World Cup saw Ardie Savea<\/a> and Scott Barrett<\/a> share the blindside duties in the knockout stages, while at the 2023 event, it was Shannon Frizell<\/a> who owned the position. All of those men are likely to be available for selection once more in 2027, but Scott Robertson<\/a> and Co. are looking elsewhere.<\/p>\n

In his first team naming as All Blacks head coach, the Test flanker picked Samipeni Finau<\/a> in the enforcer role. Ethan Blackadder<\/a> then had another short stint at 6 before injury opened the door for rookie Wallace Sititi. With the youngster going on to win Breakthrough Player of the Year honours, it\u2019s expected he will move to his familiar No.8 role this season as Ardie Savea shifts back to the openside flank.<\/p>\n

After enjoying a breakout campaign of his own in 2024, Tupou Vaa\u2019i<\/a> was trialled on the blindside against France<\/a> and appears to have convinced selectors he\u2019s got the goods as a potential long-term solution.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Head-to-Head <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Last 5 Meetings<\/p>\n

Average Points scored<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The aforementioned Finau remains in the picture, and has been joined by fellow Chiefs<\/a> hardman Simon Parker<\/a> as selections for the Rugby Championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a 6 in mind, but what we have got, we\u2019ve got options now,\u201d All Blacks forward coach Jason Ryan told SportNation\u2018s Scotty Stevenson and Israel Dagg<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether that\u2019s a starting 6, a good lineout forward, whether that\u2019s Tupou Vaa\u2019i or Samipeni Finau. And we\u2019ve obviously picked Simon Parker<\/a>, who\u2019s a genuine six\/eight, and that combination of him and Samipeni worked pretty well at the Chiefs until he got injured. We\u2019ve liked him for some time.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we\u2019ve got genuine options there, and we believe that winning our lineout ball is quite important as we play bigger teams and lineout forwards. The Argentinians are pretty athletic in the air.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important, but the physicality side of the game, as boring as it may sound, is important. So we\u2019ve got to make sure we bring that as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut with the three of those men, it\u2019s pretty clear where we\u2019re leading, and I think all of them have taken their chances, whether that\u2019s starting or on the bench. And no doubt, Simon will get his opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parker was the only new name to be read in the All Blacks\u2019 Rugby Championship squad, with three further uncapped talents coming in as travelling injury reserves.<\/p>\n

The selection made evident the kind of player Kiwi coaches are looking for: big, physical lineout options. Finau is the smallest of the bunch at 194 cm, 115kg.<\/p>\n

With a Test against Los Pumas<\/a> now just days away, newcomer Parker has had to embed himself in the group quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimon Parker\u2019s come in, and one of the big things we loved about him was his character, and I think he\u2019s shown that just as he\u2019s come into the group. He really knows who he is as a young man, and he\u2019s got around the coaches that he\u2019s needed to and had the conversations with the boys.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a good welcome, and the boys spoke pretty deeply about themselves, which was nice to hear. We\u2019re building into it nicely.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since Jerome Kaino, the All Blacks\u2018 No.6 jersey has seen many contenders attempt to stake their claim. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-63807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63807","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=63807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}