Murray Mexted’s All Blacks back-row verdict as ‘six guys’ in contention but Wallace Sititi ‘confusing things’
Wallace Sititi and Peter Lakai, inset, in action for the All Blacks in 2025.
Murray Mexted believes that the number of high quality operators in New Zealand will make it difficult for Dave Rennie to nail down his first choice back-row.
The former All Blacks number eight reckons that it is a case of “six guys competing for three positions”, with the majority of those coming from the Chiefs and Hurricanes.
Mexted has been impressed with how both of those loose trios have performed in Super Rugby Pacific this season.
They currently reside at the top of the table having accrued the same amount of points, but it was the Waikato outfit that got the bragging rights when they edged the capital-based side 22-17 last weekend.
All Blacks spots ‘up for grabs’
“It’s still up for grabs because there are so many guys that are putting their hands up,” Mexted said on the DSPN podcast with Martin Devlin. “If you’ve got six guys that are competing for three positions, and they have at the moment, the selection will be based around how much ball we’re going to win and where we’re going to win the ball.”
In the recent North Island derby, the teams started with two All Blacks apiece in their back-rows as Simon Parker and Luke Jacobson lined up at blindside flanker and number eight respectively for the Chiefs, while Du’Plessis Kirifi and Peter Lakai were in the Hurricanes’ run-on side.
They were completed by Jahrome Brown, who was the hosts’ openside, and the highly rated Devan Flanders, who was alongside Kirifi and Lakai.
Both outfits also kept Test players in reserve, however, with Wallace Sititi among the Chiefs replacements and England international Brad Shields on the ‘Canes bench.
“At the Chiefs, they’ve got about six or seven loose forwards who are outstanding, the whole lot are outstanding. In fact, I look at the Hurricanes and there are a whole bunch of loose forwards at the Hurricanes that are outstanding as well,” Mexted said.
“Then I look at the whole of New Zealand rugby and Super Rugby and really the All Blacks loose forward trio is going to be selected from the Chiefs and the Hurricanes.
“They’ve got oodles of them.”
Sititi, Parker and Lakai were all regulars in that All Blacks back-row in 2025, and are certainly doing their chances no harm heading into the 2026 Test season.
Kirifi, meanwhile, struggled with the step up to the Test arena, but the openside has continued to thrive for the Hurricanes.
“I thought Kirifi had a blinder [against the Chiefs]. At Super Rugby level he’s big enough and he played really well, he was competitive, and so was Lakai,” Mexted added.
“Lakai was really good, he had a great game. Lakai’s maybe 6ft 2in, Kirifi’s nowhere near that, so those sort of guys at that height have really only got one position and that’s openside flanker.”
Issues over Jacobson and Sititi
As for Jacobson, untimely injury issues have derailed his chances of picking up more Test caps, but he always performs superbly for the Chiefs.
“I thought Jacobson and Parker played really well and that’s an area I try and watch closely. I had sort of forgotten about Jacobson because he had gone missing a little bit and he’s in that difficult size, a bit like Razor Robertson, where he’s not quite big enough to be a ball winner in the lineout on opposition ball.
“You only judge a player as a lineout forward if he can compete on opposition ball and he’s not quite big enough for that.
“I’d like to see him play openside more than anything, but when he played at number eight, he’s a bloody good rugby player. He’s got to be in the picture somewhere but I’m not quite sure whether he’s big enough to play against the Springboks at number eight, but he is at openside flanker.”
The quandary for Mexted has tended to revolve around Sititi and that has not changed. With Ardie Savea pretty much guaranteed to start, the 72-year-old isn’t sure where Sititi can fit into that All Blacks loose trio.
“Sititi confuses things because he doesn’t win the ball in the air either, so where does he play? He’s a little bit like Ardie Savea, but he’s not as good as Ardie Savea,” he added.
“He’s a bloody good rugby player, there’s no doubt about it, but I still go back to who’s got the ball. Who has the ball is more likely to win the game.”
