2017 RLWC: Aotearoa Kiwis Black Book #3 (Scotland Preview)
Where will K-Bromz be in the haka?
Understandably, Aotearoa Kiwis coach David Kidwell has made a few changes to his team that rolled over Samoa as the Kiwis face Scotland in their second Rugby League World Cup game. This game will be in Christchurch and that in itself is fantabulous as the Cantabs love their footy and the joy of the RLWC is that the Kiwis and rugby league is given an opportunity to slide on out to regions they don't usually get to go to.
You glorious Cantabs will be treated to a Kiwis team that is still dripping with top-tier talent and while the mainstream jokers are still on that buzz of Aotearoa drawing with Scotland, forget all that. In the bubble of a reasonably crappy Four Nations campaign, that result was to be expected and from what I've seen against Samoa and my general vibe is that there is no reason to even ponder another poor showing against Scotland.
The team that drew with Scotland didn't have Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Dean Whare, Brad Takairangi, Kodi Nikorima, Simon Mannering, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Addin Fonua-Blake, Russell Packer, Danny Levi, Elijah Taylor, Kenny Bromwich or Peta Hiku. While some of those blokes haven't been named in this game against Scotland and you can debate the quality of either Kiwis team, the key point is that it's drastically different; eight of the 17 from that drawn Test are not in the Kiwis RLWC squad.
Oh and Scotland's NRL geezers Euan Aitken, Lachlan Coote and Kane Linnett are also absent from the drawn Test. Not only is it a different Aotearoa team, this is a different - perhaps weaker - Scotland team as well.
Kidwell has rolled Jason Nightingale and Peta Hiku on to the wings, despite Hiku playing centre over in the Super League. No dramas though as Hiku's a freaky footballer who can do a job anywhere, then you've got Dean Whare stepping in for the injured Gerard Beale and I view this as Aotearoa's strongest centre pairing. This is our first opportunity to see Whare back up in the mix for this RLWC and I'm eager to see the threat that he and Takairangi pose. Aotearoa's dominance through the middle against Samoa meant that the centres weren't required to offer much attacking funk and while that could be the case again against Scotland, I expect Whare and Takairangi to get more footy.
An alternative way of looking at the rest of Kidwell's changes is that he's got a few key decisions to make regarding his best-17. Te Maire Martin partners Shaun Johnson in the halves and instead of viewing this as resting Kodi Nikorima, you can very easily view it as Nikorima got the chance to state his case against Samoa and now Martin has a chance to do the same against Scotland.
Nikorima and Martin are pretty even - how can you say either is better than the other when they both played NRL Finals footy? Kidwell may have it all sussed out, I'm just putting it out there that these first two games could be an audition for that halves spot and a lot will depend on the chemistry Nikorima/Martin have with Johnson and Tuivasa-Sheck.
Elijah Taylor comes in for Thomas Leuluai and this is definitely more of a depth move. Taylor's defensive nous is similar to Leuluai and Taylor will replicate Leuluai's performance last week by not running too much, zoning in on distribution and defence. Then Danny Levi comes on and does his funky thing, I do view Leuluai as the first choice though but you gotta give Taylor some reps.
Anyone talking about disrespecting Scotland is a fool because this forward pack is on par with the forward pack from the Samoan game. This will be out first look at Kenny Bromwich on an edge and there's a low key severe conundrum brewing around Simon Mannering as Jared Waerea-Hargreaves starts again, alongside Martin Taupau and Adam Blair in the middle.
Again; this is merely an alternate perspective and Kidwell may have Mannering sussed. It's important to remember that there was noise about Mannering being on the fringes of RLWC selection which is blasphemous, although with Taupau, Waerea-Hargreaves and Blair starting through the middle, the only place for Lord Mannering is on an edge.
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Waerea-Hargreaves can drop back to the bench to open a Taupau, Blair, Mannering middle trio. Then it becomes a question of Waerea-Hargreaves, Fonua-Blake or Isaac Liu for the last bench spot. Mannering was slick on an edge last weekend though in a late re-shuffle and that makes this a crucial game for Bromwich as he has to demand further selection as Joseph Tapine did vs Samoa.
Reading the tea leaves has me thinking that Kidwell views Bromwich and Tapine as his best edge forwards. He named them to start for the Samoa game and Mannering was effectively selected over Waerea-Hargreaves, Bromwich's injury opened the way for Mannering to move to an edge and Waerea-Hargreaves to come from outside the top-17 to start.
Waerea-Hargreaves was good in game one and if he backs it up with another strong effort, he'll complicate matters even further. A strong performance from Bromwich then adds immense spice to this equation and I've got no idea how it plays out; this is merely a warning that Lord Mannering may not get the game time many of you think he should.
And it's all good. Kinda blasphemous and sad to Lord Mannering, yet we've got depth folks. Asofa-Solomona made his debut vs Samoa and Tapine's suddenly a legit international edge forward, heck, Taupau's starting and being the beast that he is. A whole lot has changed for the Kiwis in the past 12 months, then amplify that in the past few weeks and as long as the team's playing well, roll with it. Aotearoa has copious rugby league talent and you'd better acquaint yourselves with players demanding selection at the expense of others, this will only increase in the coming years.
Peace and love 27.
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