Jason Ryan’s All Black pack has a hard row to hoe. It doesn’t just need to do the usual jobs – ruling the air at lineout and kickoff; muscling up with power, mongrel, workrate and technique at the coalface.

That’s nowhere near enough if this team is to consistently beat opponents from countries with much bigger player populations and an extensive range of huge humans. All Black forwards must also be a key point of difference for the trademark Kiwi attack, bringing out sumptuous skills as required.

Add to all this a recent tendency for their strongest opponents to pick six or seven fresh forwards to add impact from the bench, while Ryan has had to rely on on just five.

I told you they had a tough job.

THE GOATS

When the McCaw and Whitelock golden generations were in tandem, multitasking as virtuoso piano players and high endurance piano shifters wasn’t much of a problem.

Kieran Read was setting up tries down the tramlines with miracle offloads. Dane Coles was steaming down the wing or through the middle. Brodie Retallick was crowned World Player of the Year with a selection of deft passes and smart decisions at the head of Pod One.

Brodie Retallick and Samuel Whitelock of New Zealand prepare to contest a scrum during the Rugby World Cup France 2023 match between New Zealand and Italy at Parc Olympique on September 29, 2023 in Lyon, France. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, they and the rest of the pack were at or near the top of the world in their core roles. Few got to the breakdown before McCaw, carried down Jerome Kaino’s channel, won Sam Whitelock’s lineout balls, bested the All Black scrum or guzzled as much brutal body shifting mahi in the carry, tackle and breakdown as Retallick.

THE COPPER GENERATION

Unfortunately, that couldn’t really be said of the next generation – those leaving the Under 20s from 2012 to 2015. They were around their peak in 2023 and should have played a key role in that year’s World Cup pack. Possibly this was just a cyclical downturn, but there’s a suspicion that the “extras” became the main thing, with size no longer so important and skills prized at the expense of actual forward play.

The poster boy of this group was Akira Ioane. He had all the natural attributes a loose forward could ever need but could raise only patronising smiles from hardened Springboks when trying to compete physically against them.

Jason Ryan. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

With the inconsistent Shannon Frizell coming through the Tongan system, Scott Barrett and Ardie Savea were the only “copper generation” graduates who made the ultimate Paris match. That’s a sparse crop, and even the admirable Scooter and Ardz are much smaller than their predecessors. There were more aging golden generation veterans in the pack – Sam Cane, Retallick, Codie Taylor, Nepo Laulala and Whitelock.

With such a poor core of players from the copper generation, the All Blacks lost out up front in Ireland and France in 2021 and then at home to Ireland the following year. Something had to be done, and forwards coach John Plumtree, who had received poor marks from players in the year end review, paid the ultimate price.

RYAN TO THE RESCUE

The odds seemed stacked against new forwards guru Jason Ryan, who had never played NPC or Super Rugby and had no European coaching experience. Nevertheless, he transformed the pack from a weakness to a strength. A Test was won in Africa, their nemesis Ireland was vanquished in the World Cup quarterfinal, and the pack matched the mighty Springboks in the final despite being a man down and having two fewer subs.

Ryan’s list of success stories is long. Tyrel Lomax was Angus Bell’s bunny in Super Rugby and is now a world-leading tighthead. Tupou Vaa’i was a lightweight bit part lock and is now a world-class nuisance without the ball, and a creator with it. Tamaiti Williams was a liability in the scrum and is now a destructive starting loosehead. Pasilo Tosi didn’t rate a mention in anyone’s selection except Ryan’s and he’s now a much-needed impact substitute who can dominate looseheads. Discarded copper generation forwards Patrick Tuipulotu and Ofa Tu’ungafasi are providing valuable impetus off the pine. Wallace Sititi began the Test season as a green as grass penalty factory and he’s now the World Breakthrough Player of the Year.

Wallace Sititi of New Zealand runs with the ball whilst under pressure from Marcus Smith of England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

More importantly, despite an undersize back five that lacks depth, the retirement of all but one of the golden greats and all of the difficulties listed in the first section of this article, Ryan has weaponised both set pieces and created a highly effective pack. At the start of the season against South Africa and Argentina there was a lack of impact from the pine, but the return of Tuipulotu, reinvigoration of Tu’ungafasi and unleashing of Tosi led to strong finishes in London and Dublin. Although Paris witnessed yet another defeat against a big pack after a halftime lead.

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Let’s see how it shapes up position by position for the next two or three World Cups.

PROPS:
Starting looseheads: TAMAITI WILLIAMS, 24, ETHAN DE GROOT, 26
Starting tighthead: TYREL LOMAX, 29
Bench loosehead: OFA TU’UNGAFASI, 32
Bench tighthead: PASILO TOSI, 26
Backup tighthead: FLETCHER NEWELL 25
Promising Loosehead: XAVIER NUMIA 26

At a time when Ireland and even France have aging tightheads and little coming through, New Zealand looks very well served for the next two or three World Cups. The scrum is going very well and most of the above excel in general play.

With Lomax officially the world’s best tighthead, Tosi an impact monster and an excellent group of looseheads, New Zealand are probably the strongest they’ve been since the Carl Hayman days, maybe ever. There is a question mark over Williams against short tightheads but de Groot has that covered.

HOOKERS:
2. CODIE TAYLOR, 33
Bench: SAMISONI TAUKEI’AHO, 27
Proven backup: ASAFO AUMUA, 27
Emerging: GEORGE BELL, 23

With Aumua not always reliable as a closer, it was a joy to see him excelling when unexpectedly forced to play big minutes in big Tests last November. Taukei’aho looks to have lost none of his power in heavy traffic and, with the last golden Taylor finally becoming a world class tight forward a couple of years ago, this is another position of strength.

Age wise, Taylor might play the Dane Coles role in 2027, with the other two around their peak. By 2031 it will be Bell ready to excel, while Samisoni and AA still won’t be over the hill.

LOCKS:
4. SCOTT BARRETT, 31
5.TUPOU VAA’I, 25
Bench: PATRICK TUIPULOTU, 32
Rising star: FABIAN HOLLAND, 22
Need to improve: JOSH LORD, 24, SAM DARRY, 24

Scott Robertson said recently that he considered employing six forwards in reserve last year. However, I suspect that he decided that he simply didn’t have the depth in the key 4/5/6 positions to make it worthwhile.

Indeed, when Big Pat was injured and Darry on the bench, Razor would possibly have been better leaving Vaa’i on. The young Chief has plugged the Retallick/Whitelock hole with world class spoiling and great skills. He and his skipper are doing the business and the former Wesley College Head Boy may well take the armband himself from 2028.

Scott Barrett. (Photo by Franco Arland/Getty Images)

Tuipulotu’s return provided a much-needed impact sub and hopes are high that the 2.04m Holland will be the long-awaited new Guzzler. The All Blacks could finally have an awesome foursome in the second row in 2027, with TV and the Dutchman a potentially legendary partnership going forward.

This is becoming a position where New Zealand can hold their own against anyone, but without the depth of South Africa and France. The All Blacks are still vulnerable if an injury occurs and other locks will need to improve – although with size more valued in recent years there’s no reason why not.

LOOSE FORWARDS:
6. WALLACE SITITI, 22
7. DALTON PAPALI’I, 27
8. ARDIE SAVEA, 31
Bench: ETHAN BLACKADDER, 30
Workrate openside: DU’PLESSIS KIRIFI, 28
Apprentice openside: PETER LAKAI, 22
All purpose injury cover: LUKE JACOBSON, 27
Big blindside option: SAMIPENI FINAU, 25
Frustrated genius: HOSKINS SOTUTO, 26

Sititi looks like a global superstar for the next three or four World Cups and Ardie was World Player of the Year last time round. After them though it’s a cast of thousands, with nobody who’s really proven themselves yet but plenty who could.

A lot will depend on the balance Razor wants. To start each game, is a high work rate, ruck clearing, tackling machine needed at openside to complement the ball-in-hand superpowers of the two stars? Is a bigger seven needed, considering that the dynamic duo are pretty small by international standards?

Then there’s the question of how many forwards will be on the bench. A five forward bench might need a bigger loosie, taking advantage of the versatility of Sititi and Savea. Six would allow for an all action openside to ensure constant intensity in a high energy position.

VERDICT

With only Taylor left of the goldens, and the copper generation so underwhelming, the All Black pack could have been entering a bleak era. We’ve been told so often that Super Rugby has weakened, and without South Africa it’s no place to develop young forwards, or prepare the pack in general, to cope with the harsh physical realities of top tier test rugby.

Instead, it’s turned out that the new crop looks like being the best to be produced by the fields of Aotearoa since the Brodie Bunch. No Springboks, no problem. If the weakness of the copper generation was caused by strategic errors, these seem to have been solved.

Look at how many players are aged 26 and under in the above lists. None of them have played a single game of Super Rugby in South Africa. Yet most have already shown that they can hack it at the very top of Test rugby, playing their parts in a pack that can match any opposition physically, while contributing that point of difference flair the team needs.

Perhaps the greatest improvement through 2024 was on the pine. Early in the season the All Blacks faded in the second half, but by the end of the campaign Razor was able to select more impactful substitutes. In November they won the final quarter of all four matches, although there was still the same old feeling in the last five minutes against Les Bleus that they weren’t going to break the line of a big bomb squad team when it mattered most at the death.

In the next few years it could be that a 6/2 bench will be required against South Africa and France – and it seems that the depth now exists to fill each of those reserve spots with somebody who can add impetus when brought on.

OUTLOOK

New Zealand looks to be developing a pack that will have a big chance to take home the big prize in 2027 and is young enough to remain largely intact through to 2031. There even seems to be a solid core that could still be going strong in 2035, exerting a similar influence to the McCaw generation twenty years earlier.

Nothing is certain at this early stage though, and other countries have had more 2020s success at age group level. It definitely doesn’t have the same depth at 4/5/6 as South Africa’s now aging double world champion cohort.

Of course, New Zealand has never relied on that level of forwards domination. When it comes to forming the heart of the sort of pack needed by the All Blacks, the Sititi generation of forwards may well prove to be a golden one.

Now about those backs…

QUESTIONS FOR YOU

How does the All Black pack compare to their best opponents and is a golden generation rising? What sort of balance is needed to start and from the bench? Who replaces Sam Cane and do you have any bolters?