Selectors recalling “battering ram” Caleb Clarke will help the All Blacks reestablish their dominance over the Springboks in the Rugby Championship in 2022.
So says Crusaders halfback Bryn Hall, who believes the powerful Blues wing can fix the New Zealanders’ set-piece launches that weren’t too effective last year, with the first-phase carry often coming unstuck against the Boks.
Hall says the 23-year-old’s ability to take advantage of half chances and less room is a “massive positive” in his favour when looking at left-wing options.
During Clarke’s one season with the All Blacks in 2020, his power running was unstoppable at Eden Park against the Wallabies as the Kiwis ran out 27-7 winners on the back of Clarke’s dynamic play.
View this post on Instagram
“If you look at when we played against the South Africans [last year], a lot of that time when you are winning that lineout ball at the front, our strike plays were giving it straight to the winger like George Bridge and Will Jordan,” Hall told the ‘Aotearoa Rugby Pod’.
“They [Bridge and Jordan] have a lot of really good strengths, but sometimes if they are running into an openside or a hooker in that transition zone, a guy like Caleb suits.
“If you want to use him as a battering ram in that example, he’s a guy that could possibly get you over that advantage line and then start flowing into your shapes or maps off that.
“He’s not only just that, that’s a massive strength of his to run over people, but whether it be contestables or kick chase to the ball, he’s a quick man.
“If he continues to have those second and third efforts, he’ll definitely be in that All Blacks squad when they announce it.”
