Just a few more quick thoughts on the No. 8 position, based on this SR metric with Kieran Read (apologies for the self-quote). I’ve quickly gathered the different NZ-born eights in SRP, based on their volume of carrying (CPM) and tackling (TPM) per minute. I’m calling it the Kieran Read Index (TM pending).
What the graph shows, in my view, is that high-volume carriers aren’t really valued within NZ SRP teams. The two highest-volume carriers – Tupou-Ta’eiloa and Ekuasi – play for non-NZ teams, while the third one, Sotutu, is leaving after this season.
The Kieran Read Index: how many carries and tackles do the players get through on a per minute basis?
What you get instead are a bunch of loose forward hybrids: players who can play 6, 7 or 8, without really having those qualities which we associate with one of the greatest No. 8s in history, Kieran Read, namely to get through a bunch of work on attack and defence. The players who do seem to be rather typical 8s have their own issues, whether it’s a lack of size (Lio-Willie) or a lack of experience (Wrampling-Alec).
This NZ SRP sentiment of a lack of appreciation for high-volume carrying is further emphasized if we take a look at a bunch of (semi-)eligible No. 8s from overseas. Players like Fletcher Anderson, Sean Jansen, So’otala Fa’aso’o, Ethan Roots and Abraham Papali’i are some of the foremost carrying options in European rugby right now, yet none of them even sniffed regular game time at SR level.
The high-volume carriers/tacklers lost to NZ Rugby
Others, like Mikaele-Tu’u and Hemopo also play like your typical number eights in Japan, yet were never really considered for that role for the ABs. The same is of course true for Akira Ioane – whose stats aren’t available on RugbyPass due to him playing in Japanese 2nd division rugby – but who is perhaps the most famous example of a player whose in-tight carrying wasn’t valued enough at Test rugby level (I've added his 2024 SRP averages to the graph).
Meanwhile, NZ’s loss is other countries’ gain: Sean Jansen looks set to get a cap for Ireland in the near future and fans in Wales are already clamouring for Fletcher Anderson’s Test selection in 4 years’ time.
You should have an adblock if you want to open the WalesOnline link, just saying
Questions can of course be asked of the quality of those players as well as the competitions in which they play. But my point isn’t that they would necessarily be good enough for the ABs, but more so that the limits of an SRP competition with limited places as well as selection identities are once again exposed here. The ways an All Black team can play are becoming restricted due to the fact that too many NZ SRP teams are playing and selecting too similarly. Even if the ABs wanted a high-volume carrier and tackler at number 8, he most likely wouldn’t be available to them and the depth would be non-existent.
The attentive reader might’ve noticed that I’ve left out one name, Wallace Sititi. Sititi has only played 60 minutes of SRP rugby this season, so putting him in this graph wouldn’t be representative. Still, his carrying volume is at the moment unmatched. On the weekend against the Hurricanes, he had 9 carries in just the 32 minutes on the field. I’ve added both his current averages as well as his 2024 numbers to the graph above, just to give an indication. As you can see, if Rennie wants a high-volume carrier at No. 8, there’s really not a lot of competition.
Leading the pack: Sititi’s current carrying averages will undoubtedly go down with more game time but if he could get back to his 2024 averages of 0.2 carries and 0.2 tackles per minute, he would comfortably stand out in the Kieran Read Index