The All Blacks learned the hard way in 2011 that it is a massive risk to be so reliant on just one first-five.
Their World Cup campaign was famously thrown into chaos when chief play-maker Daniel Carter was ruled out of the tournament before the last pool game.
It was incredibly bad luck that their next two first-fives – Colin Slade and Aaron Cruden – were also injured in successive games, but really the moment Carter was ruled out was the moment that changed everything.
Because Carter was their everything. He was the man on whom so much depended. Not only was he truly world class, there was daylight between him and Slade.
Carter had 70-plus caps coming into the tournament and was widely recognised as the best No 10 on the planet with many believing he was the best there had ever been.
Slade, on the other hand, had made his debut off the bench in September 2010 and then missed selection for the end of year tour.
He only picked up a couple more caps before the tournament and came into it with limited exposure to genuinely difficult situations.
The over-reliance on Carter was a result of the pressure the All Blacks were under after failing at the 2007 World Cup.
They needed to restore public confidence in 2008 which meant Carter had to be on the field for most of each test.
His understudy at the 2007 World Cup, Nick Evans had headed overseas so the All Blacks didn’t have an alternative choice which compounded the need for Carter to be involved all the time.
The end result was that the All Blacks, having had four years to build their options at No 10, ended up with just one first-five they trusted in 2011.
When Steve Hansen was elevated to the head coach role in 2012 he vowed to not make the same mistake and he set about building depth at No 10 by developing both Cruden and 20-year-old Beauden Barrett alongside Carter.
This story is from the Issue 203 December 2019 - January 2020 edition of NZ Rugby World.
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This story is from the Issue 203 December 2019 - January 2020 edition of NZ Rugby World.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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