Leicester Fainga’anuku’s successful move from midfielder to starting loose forward is a triumph of his adaptability and Crusaders coach Rob Penney’s flexible thinking.
It also underlines the fundamentals of rugby being a game suited to explosive ball carriers willing to look for work, as Hurricanes coach Clark Laidlaw has admitted ahead of tomorrow night’s crunch match at Wellington’s Cake Tin.
Fainga’anuku’s transition will almost certainly attract the attention of All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie because it provides a flexibility to the Crusaders’, and potentially New Zealand’s, bench that Rennie’s predecessor Scott Robertson was unwilling to commit to.
Both the Crusaders and the Hurricanes have named a six-two forwards-backs split on their benches, in keeping with a trend in the world game which allows for teams to name two extra loose forwards for additional impact.
Damian McKenzie was able to cover halfback as well as first-five and the outside backs, and Leroy Carter’s was also flexible. But Robertson, who also had Cam Roigard capable of consistently going the distance in the No.9 jersey, didn't follow the lead of South Africa or even England, whose coaches showed more imagination during his reign.
Fainga’anuku’s power near the breakdown is a constant threat for the Crusaders who have battled to break teams down this season and his excellent performance against the Waratahs under the roof in Christchurch last weekend persuaded Penney to continue with the experiment.
Looking further afield, Highlanders midfielder Timoci Tavatavanawai could do a similar job, as could the Hurricanes’ own Fehi Fineanganofo, a wing who scored four tries at the weekend and is odds-on to break the competition’s try-scoring record this season. Hurricanes midfielder Jordie Barrett also has plenty of experience in the position (including during the 2023 World Cup final where he effectively played both after Sam Cane’s dismissal).
Such is Laidlaw’s ball-carrying depth at loose forward – Brayden Iose, Devan Flanders, Peter Lakai, Brad Shields, Du’Plessis Kirifi et al – that he already has sufficient options and, as he said to the media yesterday, the game’s fundamentals remain the same despite the number on a player’s back.
“I’m not as convinced the number on your back is the difference,” Laidlaw said when asked about Fainga’anuku’s move. “A 6-7-8 or a 12-13, it’s often the job you’re asking them to do on the field. His role doesn’t change hugely.
“When he’s 7, yes he’s on the scrum but he’s playing on the edge, defending on the edge and picking and going – he’s been doing that all season when he’s had 13 on his back,” Laidlaw said.
“I’m not surprised they’re continuing with that because it gives you another back around the loose and he’s not needed at lineouts. It gives you an extra ball player and his power gives them a real threat. We’ll be well aware of that but we generally felt – whether he’s at 13, wing or 7 – it’s kind of the same problem.”
Laidlaw’s clear-eyed analysis is one of the reasons why his team have lost only twice this season and favoured to beat the defending champions tomorrow to overtake the Chiefs into first on the table.
They have the deepest squad in the competition, in-form strike weapons across the park, and one of the best game directors in Ruben Love.
Love, clearly relishing an extended spell in the No.10 jersey, will play his 50th match for the Hurricanes tomorrow and is maturing into a hugely influential playmaker.
He still has plenty to learn before consistently taking that influence to the international level but the 25-year-old, who has world-class Roigard and Barrett alongside him, is learning the art of restraint in the knowledge that sometimes less is more.
Last weekend, Love did not overplay his hand during the 45-12 drubbing of a Brumbies team who thrashed the Crusaders in Christchurch earlier in the season and rightly so because with the in-form Billy Proctor, plus Fineanganofo, outside him he doesn’t have to.
The Hurricanes have had two major slip-ups this season – their defeat to the Fijian Drua in atrociously wet conditions in Lautoka in February and their extra-time 22-17 loss to the Chiefs in Hamilton, a match they were unlucky to finish second in. One assumes they learned a huge amount from both setbacks.
They have already thrashed the Blues in Wellington and are playing with a confidence that suggests they will be too good for a Crusaders team who rediscovered their mojo during the weekend’s super round but who are not playing with the consistency that suggests they will keep it for an extended period.
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