Dan Carter and Richie McCaw Must Be Expendable

The two celebrated Canterbury stars are essential foundations to the All Black team, but it is now a proven fact that without them, New Zealand is a far different proposition.

It is a situation that is an anomalous cocktail for the All Blacks to have.

On one hand, there is no team in world rugby that has two such single influential players.  While the world’s current leading team, the Springboks, has a host of almost indispensable players, there are no two men that the fortunes of the side appear to hinge on.

As it was seen in Wellington against an admittedly mediocre Australian side, when McCaw and Carter are on song, the All Blacks are close to unbeatable. Between the two men, New Zealand has won close to 90 percent of their matches when they are on the field.

And throughout modern history, it is difficult to recall an example of where two men wield such dramatic influence on their side’s fortunes.

Take the 2007 World Cup winning and current Springbok team. There was/is no one forward that was/is far and beyond their most valuable, and no one back.

It was the same with England in 2003 and the Wallabies in 1999, for while players such as John Eales and Martin Johnson were immense in their team’s fortunes, one would suspect that they would hardly be spectacularly inferior without them.

But when the Canterbury players are not within the team, there is a fragile underbelly to the All Blacks, despite boasting some exceptional players.

While in the past this has not been such an issue, now it appears not so much a talent issue as much as what the All Blacks commonly term a mana aspect. The Je ne sais pas quality that they bring to the team, that lifts the men around them.

Some years back, there were legitimate backups, such as former Highlanders/Blues stalwart and current Harlequins first five Nick Evans, who was close to a par with Dan Carter in pure playing ability—with Evans probably having a slightly better boot, but not the running ability of the Canterbury pivot.

For McCaw, there was the former Chiefs scavenger Marty Holah, and former Blues and Reds open side Daniel Braid. While they may not have been quite of the equal of a man that is considered in many circles to be the greatest exponent of open side play the game has ever seen, they were acceptable reserves.

But these two men, so crucial to the All Blacks success, raise questions within the New Zealand game regarding the issue of redundancy.

The best application of this term is in regard to the United States Navy missile submarines (called boomers). The official recognition of redundancy is that if one boomer goes missing or is taken out, then another takes its place seamlessly, without affecting the military power of the U.S.

The military power, so to speak, of the All Blacks is reduced without the twin axis of McCaw and Carter.

And for all of the achievements that could be hailed under the reign of Graham Henry and his lieutenants Steve Hanson and Wayne Smith (and there are many, unbeaten in Bledisloe Cups, four Tri Nations titles, a Lions scalp, a Grand Slam and 60-12 win loss record) the glaring blemish in what is quite possibly the holy trinity of rugby coaches is that they have struggled to groom secondary players to their Canterbury pillars.

It appears that they are so first-class, that the fortunes of the national team decline without them.

This needs to be addressed. There may not be the depth at seven and 10 that will soon be apparent in some positions (for example, there are potentially six test level locks in the wings), but there is quality.

For McCaw (considering open side specialists) Scott Waldrom continues his return from injury, and Tanerau Latimer is an option. But they must be given time, if not test starts—while McCaw is benched—then at least 20-minute playing cameos.

Equally, they must persist with a pure number seven. Experimentation with moving around the back row hasn’t really worked, and the All Black style of play depends on a thoroughbred ball scavenger.

At first five, Donald remains second choice despite some national concerns. Has his form been sub-par, or is he suffering with comparisons to the Carter, at his pomp the best all round number ten in the world.

There are also options underneath, with young pivots like Stephen Brett, Colin Slade, Aaron Curden or even Lachie Munro. To throw a spanner in the works are players such as Luke McAlister, or even a returning Evans.

McCaw (28, 76 tests, 80 test points) and Carter (27, 63 tests, 930 test points) are the platforms in which the All Blacks rely on so heavily, but without employing some form of redundancy, their potential unavailability could hurt New Zealand in the future and in 2011.