The All Blacks‘ 2024 season has been signed, sealed and submitted to the history books with no chance for revision. So, who finished on a high note and who will be left to fight around the fringes to begin 2025?
New head coach Scott Robertson has laid out his selection ideology, bringing a more balanced perspective to the hoards of All Blacks fans screaming for more and more new blood.
Those vampires got their wish through injury reserves rather than straight selection calls, with 10 new faces inducted into the All Blacks fraternity throughout the season.
Boks Office – Looking ahead to 2025
Boks Office – Looking ahead to 2025
Some of those newbies cemented their place in the incoming Razor era with near immediate effect, while others showed signs of growing pains and struggled to see game time.
Today, we take a look at how things wrapped up for 10 of New Zealand’s finest who found themselves rising and falling through the All Blacks ranks throughout the Autumn Nations Series.
Winners
Tamaiti Williams
It was only two years ago that a 24-year-old Ethan de Groot snapped up the starting No. 1 jersey and looked to be the future of the All Blacks scrum alongside Tyrel Lomax. This season, a 24-year-old Tamaiti Williams seemingly usurped de Groot.
There’s a clear requirement of the All Blacks forward pack in phase play to be able to shift the ball and play at the line, and Williams, having played that role exceptionally while under the majority of the All Blacks coaching group at the Crusaders, looks well-placed to be the man to bring that attacking vision to life.
The three-time Super Rugby champion has been more than comfortable at the head of a pod with the likes of a Richie Mo’unga wrapping around behind him while his 140kg frame demands the attention of the defence.
With his set-piece game taking strides against some of his biggest counterparts in the global game, Williams has staked his claim on the starting loosehead role for the incoming season.
Asafo Aumua
Questions loomed large over Aumua’s career in black as his lineout throwing continued to be a question mark on the big stage heading into the Autumn Nations Series.
Prior to flying out of New Zealand, the hooker sat down with media and was asked about his journey to become better at the set piece and caught himself agreeing lineout throwing was “just as bad” as goalkicking in terms of the pressure on the individual. He quickly rephrased the statement into something more positive, as is the professional athlete’s responsibility, but his moment of candour would have come as no surprise to those who have followed his career.
Aumua said he has come to look forward to the challenge and pressure of lineouts, and while he wasn’t perfect in that regard throughout his minutes in the Autumn Nations Series, he made significant strides.
Outside his core roles, Aumua was a bully with the ball in hand, making gain line carries more often than not and providing the occasional lethal hit on defence.
Peter Lakai
Lakai’s potential is clear, his problem was always going to be getting an opportunity at perhaps New Zealand’s deepest position.
Sam Cane rightly claimed most of the minutes at No. 7 throughout 2024 after returning from injury for The Rugby Championship, with the former captain leaving the likes of Dalton Papali’i and Luke Jacobson to fight over an impact role while Ethan Blackadder filled in the blanks at blindside.
Lakai was on the fringes of the conversation while being considered the next big thing. That sentiment was confirmed and reaffirmed by Scott Robertson after a herd of injuries paved the way for his early introduction into one of the biggest Tests of the year.
Lakai, 21, was labelled “the future” by his coach after a 15-carry, 12-tackle performance in 79 minutes of the most exhausting Test match of the year. The All Blacks vs France contest was an absolute marathon. A lung-buster. A pack your bags, you’ve earned yourself a holiday type of game.
Debutants commonly speak of the rapid pace of Test matches compared to the best of club rugby. Yet, Lakai was up to the task throughout his 79 minutes and speaking to sideline commentators after the final whistle, looked anything but out of breath.
Sam Cane
Cane could have signed off on his international career with a red card in a Rugby World Cup final, but instead, he signed off with a win in Turin.
A former captain, All Blacks centurion and icon of the jersey deserves to depart the Test arena on his own terms, and that’s exactly what Cane has done.
2024 has put the shaky Ian Foster years to rest in a sense, and has allowed the public perception of Cane to move on.
Patrick Tuipulotu
Finally fit and healthy, Tuipulotu put his big frame to work against the bulking northern hemisphere packs and was key to the All Blacks’ improved final quarters, which were a big issue heading into the campaign.
After Tupou Vaa’i’s emergence in 2024, Tuipulotu’s many injury spells looked like they could pave the way for more youngsters coming through the ranks, but instead, the 31-year-old returned to the fold in superb form and put his case forward for more minutes.
With the likes of Sam Darry, Josh Lord and Fabian Holland offering well north of 200cm tall options, the future of Tuipulotu’s injury-plagued All Blacks career has looked anything but certain, but his value to the team as an experienced second-rower in the post-Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick era can not be overlooked.
Losers
Sevu Reece
Reece was made to look pedestrian by his opposite in Paris, as the jet plane that is Louis Bielle-Biarrey hit the afterburners to win the race for Thomas Ramos’ kick and score a lead-snatching try in the 50th minute.
It’s a harsh feeling marking Reece down for not competing against a young man who absolutely flies, but that’s exactly who Reece is going toe-to-toe with in the international arena.
Previously in the All Blacks’ season, the 27-year-old was comfortably outpaced by Cheslin Kolbe. Again, who are we to criticise? But if you’re going to go up against the greatest athletes in the world, you have to be one yourself. And despite Reece’s sublime form throughout his Super Rugby Pacific campaign, he came to look over the hill later in the year.
The France Test was Reece’s only opportunity of the Autumn Nations Series and with the outside back talent coming through in a position that has proven time and time again to be a young man’s game, Reece has his work cut out for him to get back into a black jersey.
Ethan de Groot
Very rarely can an All Black afford to surrender his jersey, even for a single Test. Having performed powerfully in the black jersey in recent seasons, de Groot has struggled to make his usual impact in 2024.
After an injury-plagued Rugby Championship, the loosehead was in need of a statement performance or two, but instead failed to meet “internal standards” and was sidelined for the England Test, allowing his counterparts Tamaiti Williams and Ofa Tu’ungafasi to make statement performances of their own.
That resulted in an extended sideline spell for the prop, who could only watch as his team prevailed with a famous win in Dublin, and then fell to an equally famous loss in Paris before getting his shot at redemption in Turin.
“Grooter” took his opportunity against the Italians, flexing his muscles at scrum time and comfortably getting the better of his opposite.
Eight carries for 20 metres and seven tackles without a miss were all positive signs, but Williams contributed more against bigger opposition, and so de Groot’s place atop Prop Mountain has been all but lost.
Cortez Ratima
While Ratima looked right at home starting against the Springboks in South Africa, the All Blacks’ northern hemisphere opponents targetted the rookie halfback and made life hell with their success contesting the breakdown.
With his side hungry for fast-paced attacking play, Ratima struggled to deliver the ball as the Irish pack in particular applied heavy pressure. Ratima was subsequently demoted to the bench, with Cam Roigard back to full fitness and entrusted to battle Antoine Dupont in Paris.
Generally, one would argue Ratima’s combination with Damian McKenzie is worth maintaining so his role off the bench is a fair one, with Cam Roigard bringing his X-factor to his partnership with the more traditional attacking game of Beauden Barrett.
If this were a winners and losers list for the entire 2024 season, Ratima would be considered a winner for a largely impressive rookie season in black. Still, it must be said the Autumn Nations Series was a rough campaign for the 23-year-old.
George Bell
While youngsters like Cortez Ratima, Peter Lakai and Wallace Sititi were all backed to perform on some of the biggest stages in world rugby, Bell wasn’t trusted by All Blacks coaches when his opportunity came through Codie Taylor’s concussion.
Up 10 points with 12 minutes remaining against Ireland, Scott Robertson continued to order his reserves to take the field, but it wasn’t until the 79th minute when Bell replaced Asafo Aumua on the park.
Aumua was immense throughout that Test, and credit to him for playing superbly for 20 minutes longer than any other front rower in the game, but for the coaches to trust Bell enough to select him ahead of some of his counterparts across Super Rugby, and yet leave him on the sidelines until the last possible moment in Dublin must have come as a real disappointment for the 22-year-old.
Ruben Love
Where’s Ruben? That was the game many All Blacks fans were playing on the day the Italy team was announced.
Having scored twice off the bench on debut, Love looked like another prospect ready to take the international arena by storm. However, that appearance against Japan would remain his lone selection in 2024 after spending the bulk of the All Blacks’ season in and around the squad.
Surprisingly, the speedster entered that lone contest on the right wing, despite being deployed nearly exclusively at fullback throughout his professional career. That’s two degrees of separation away from what is the 23-year-old’s ultimate goal of donning the black 10 jersey.
