At the risk of stating the obvious in the hope of shining a light on a player who has yet to play a single minute for the All Blacks this year: the absent Ardie Savea will leave a huge hole in Melbourne next week, and Hoskins Sotutu may be a beneficiary.
Savea, the vice-captain now generally called upon to act as skipper late in Tests following the substitution of Sam Cane, has been outstanding this year.
That has been the case since 2019.
The No.8 is consistently one of the best All Blacks on the pitch because of, well, his consistency on attack and defence and in particular his utter refusal to concede a centimetre with or without the ball.
He can do the brutal stuff but is also adept at the finer arts: his try in the first Test against Ireland at Eden Park when he used his pace to run around a defender in a set defensive line was a reminder that he is a rare talent indeed.
So, yes, he’ll be missed during his time on paternity leave, and so, to a lesser extent, will Shannon Frizell – an increasingly dominant figure in the No.6 jersey who is out of next Thursday’s Test with a rib injury.
Which is where Sotutu comes in. Could this be his opportunity to play his first Test since Italy in Rome last year? And, more to the point, as a No.8 specialist, could he even start it?
Read more: Ardie Savea to miss All Blacks Test against Wallabies in Melbourne
He must be close to a start because a Test against the Wallabies on what will presumably be a hard and fast pitch at Marvel Stadium would seem to be right up his alley.
And to state the obvious one last time, he would likely be excited by the prospect given his re-commitment in July when signing with the Blues and New Zealand Rugby until the end of 2024.
Back then his Super Rugby head coach Leon MacDonald was effusive in his praise for a 24-year-old who has played 10 Tests, five as a replacement, since his debut against Australia in Wellington in 2020.
“Hoskins has all the skills and attributes to become one of the game’s best No 8s,” said MacDonald. “He has size, speed and supreme skills.”
Sotutu, who impressed during his 13 games for the Blues this year, hasn’t found the jump to the next level easy – and that is perhaps evident in his lack of appearances in the black jersey this year.
There was a feeling in his first year that he perhaps didn’t use his size and weight to his fullest advantage, that he wasn’t prepared to hurt people in the often brutal business of Test football, that he played a bit loose at times.
Sotutu did his best to dispel that notion for the Blues this year and did well in a team which had a new, harder edge following the arrival of Joe Schmidt, before the high-flying Blues ran slap bang into the Crusaders in the Super Rugby final.
Last month, Sotutu was given leave to play for Counties-Manukau in the NPC as that Super Rugby showpiece in June had been his last game in months.
With No.8 Pita Gus Sowakula named for the Irish series and involved off the bench in the Eden Park win (with a try) and Dunedin loss before being brutally cut loose from the All Blacks, who else is a contender for the position next week?
Sotutu’s Blues teammate Akira Ioane is a good one, and he has a little more international rugby under his belt this year with four Tests (only one start).
Ioane scored a try as a replacement against Ireland in Wellington, started at blindside flanker in the defeat to South Africa at Mbombela Stadium, and played briefly off the bench against Argentina in Christchurch. He wasn’t required for the recent 53-3 thrashing of the Pumas in Hamilton.
Read more: Easy-beats to heavy hitters - the transformation of the All Black pack
It would appear unlikely that Luke Jacobson, brought in as cover for Savea and Frizell and whose last Test was also against Italy last November, will play a part in Melbourne.
And that appears to be the way he’s seeing it too.
“I’m not expecting anything going in there and will just be looking to take the opportunity with both hands,” Jacobson said after his call-up on Monday. “If I do manage to get named, I feel like I can go in and give it my best crack with nothing to lose. So that’s what I’ll do.”
Dalton Papali'i is the other loose forward specialist but may have to settle for a bench role.
Brodie Retallick's return at Waikato Stadium means he is likely to start alongside Sam Whitelock in the second row, with Scott Barrett a good possibility to return to blindside flanker for the first time since that victory over Ireland at Eden Park in early July.
Foster kept faith with his starting XV for the Pumas re-match but a reshuffle is now necessary and Sotutu may have the most to gain from it.
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