On numbers alone, Waldrom should be a starting All Black
Roar Pro By ozxile, 27 May 2009 ozxile is a Roar Pro
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- All Blacks, Rugby Union, Springboks, Thomas Waldrom, wallabies
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The Wallaby squad is out. Next up is the All Blacks and the full Springboks squads. It’s about this time each year that I start to think that there are as many underrated and overlooked players in each country as there are those who are widely seen as overrated.
If it isn’t on Setanta or RugbyZone, I don’t see it, so I cannot comment on local competitions in any of the Three Nation countries to broaden the scope of the discussion.
That said, Super 14 matches reveal an array of ‘fair-haired’ favourites who only rarely live up to their billings and a list of those who are relegated to ‘journeymen’ status who regularly play above their reputations.
During the Bulls-Crusaders Semi-Final I was struck (once again) at what an intelligent and consistently productive ‘nuisance’ Thomas Waldrom is.
The Bulls scored thirteen points while he was in the bin.
The momentum had shifted and the game was effectively gone by the time he came back on. With the sin bin and an early replacement, Waldrom played about half the match. Even so, his stats look very solid in comparison to the other semi-final number 8s – Spies, Lauaki, and So’oialo.
Waldrom Spies Lauaki So’oialo
Tackles 4 3 3 11
Missed Tackles 1 1 3 4
Ruck/Mauls 6 13 12 10
Turnovers 2 1 2 0
Runs 6 14 12 8
Meters 28 177 99 32
Line Breaks 1 2 1 0
Off loads 0 1 1 0
Who gets the most press and hype?
In this group, it certainly isn’t Waldrom.
However, in addition to consistency and apparent intelligence, his numbers suggest that across the board his claim to an All Black jersey should be on a par with his more highly touted peers.
If Rory Kockett missed out on the Boks initial squad, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for Waldrom to start for the All Blacks.
Perhaps these two players aren’t the best examples since my interest is in Australia where we constantly hear that we have “no depth.”
How so?
Is it possible that at least part of the issue is a systemic failure to take a consistent and coherent look past the hype that surrounds the players that manage to get an agent who persistently push them forward – and keep on pushing long past their due dates?
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May 27th 2009 @ 5:25am
Lilly Bart said | May 27th 2009 @ 5:25am | Report comment
Waldrom had a great game, and Lauaki’s try was textbook No.8 stuff, and Spies’ was textbook too (for a centre). I doubt Lauaki will displace Rodney in the AB starters, but he’d make a great 6 (has he ever played there?). And Waldrom coming on in the second half of a test would certainly shake things up.
Re. the Bok squad, the preliminary one is already out. See Lazlo’s post.
May 27th 2009 @ 6:27am
Jerry said | May 27th 2009 @ 6:27am | Report comment
Lauaki’s played a fair bit of 6 for both the AB’s and the Chiefs. He’s not quite as effective but can be very destructive – still suffers from not being an 80 minute player which you can’t get away with at test level.
Waldrom won’t be a part of the TN as he’s suffered a broken back in the semi-final. While the term ‘broken back’ conjurs up images of paralysis, he’s apparently fractured 3 of the small bones adjoining the vertebrae and will be out for only 8-12 weeks. Latimer would be the premier 7 to back up Richie with Waldrom out, but I suspect Henry will go for versatility and use Thompson and So’oialo to cover 7 or possibly look at developing Messam as a 7.
May 27th 2009 @ 6:30am
Sambobly said | May 27th 2009 @ 6:30am | Report comment
I totally agree that sometimes a players reputation (or past deeds) can cloud future selection. For example, Lote Tuqiri. For me he wasn’t even the fourth best winger in Australia during the Super 14 (Ioane, Hynes, Turner and Staniforth all played better in my opinion). It would be better for the ARU to cut Lote’s salary in half and give Ioane an extra $100,000 and keep him. This is just a (favourite) example.
May 27th 2009 @ 6:32am
Who Needs Melon said | May 27th 2009 @ 6:32am | Report comment
Waldrom has had a great season. Awful to hear about his injury. He doesn’t LOOK like your modern footballer, does he? An inspiration for all of us.
May 27th 2009 @ 7:11am
Jerry said | May 27th 2009 @ 7:11am | Report comment
Whoops. I got my Waldrom’s mixed up. It’s Scott who’s got the injury rather than Thomas the tank engine.
May 27th 2009 @ 9:44am
katzilla said | May 27th 2009 @ 9:44am | Report comment
Yeah Scooters done his back in. Thomas is fine. He might get a run against Italy, who knows.
It wont be Lauaki thats fror sure, his chance is gone. Time for new blood if rodney fails
May 27th 2009 @ 10:01am
Hemjay said | May 27th 2009 @ 10:01am | Report comment
I hope he gets a shot somewhere he certainly deserves it.
It will be interesting to see who the selectors throw up after the Final surely there will be a bolter or two.
I’m more pressed to say there will be some in the June tests. Lets be honest here the inbound NH tests are basically meaningless and are simply about revenue and testing combinations for the SH teams. Where as the NH teams its more like an end of year road trip.
I think Deans and Henry will take these tests as an oppurtunity to push the younger guys and maybe a few of the untested players to see how they go and give them one last shot to impress before the Tri-Nations.
May 27th 2009 @ 10:11am
Jerry said | May 27th 2009 @ 10:11am | Report comment
I think Waldrom’s lack of versatility will work against him. He’s an 8 and just an 8 – has played some 6 for Wgtn and the Canes but is really not suited to it. In addition to that, he doesn’t really have an allround game, he’s very skilled and a good runner but that’s it. The Crusaders used this well, but I don’t know if it would translate into test form to be honest.
Also, his running metre stats are a bit skewed as he often returns kicks while a lot of other forwards in that position spin it to an outside back.
May 27th 2009 @ 11:32am
Sam Taulelei said | May 27th 2009 @ 11:32am | Report comment
Jerry
Graham Henry has publicly stated that he’ll be selecting a specialist no.7 backup for McCaw this season so that would rule out Soo’oialo, Messam and Thompson. Henry revealed they had narrowed their search down to four and with Waldrom’s back injury I guess it’s down to three. Apart from Latimer and Blackie can’t think of another no.7 that would feature in the selectors minds. Do you have any ideas?
May 27th 2009 @ 12:05pm
sam a said | May 27th 2009 @ 12:05pm | Report comment
I’ve never seen Thomas Waldrom and Matt Dunning in the same room…