All Blacks v France
Kick-off: 7:05pm Saturday 5 July
Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
Live blog updates on RNZ Sport
There's a wild rumour flying around about the Super Rugby Pacific final, but Fletcher Newell has cleared it up. The Crusaders conceded penalties on the first two scrums of the game, only to then take complete control of the Chiefs' scrum for the remainder of the game, culminating in a couple of match clinching penalties.
Word was that the Crusaders had done so on purpose, which would be a wily but on brand act to lull their opponents into a false sense of security. However Newell said that the reality of the eventual 19-12 win to the Crusaders was a little less dramatic.
"That's not true, nah definitely not. It probably took us a couple of scrums to execute our plan. We had a pretty clear plan going into the game," he said at the All Blacks' hotel.
"It was probably just a couple of little technicalities we didn't quite get right. Probably the gap was a little bit big, they saw we were collapsing on the hit. So, once we got that right, we're able to keep both teams up. We saw the power of our back five to be able to get us through and it turned into a pretty pivotal part of the final, which was really enjoyable."
Fletcher Newell. Photo: Martin Hunter/ www.photosport.nz
The 25-year-old Newell's attention now focuses to the All Blacks' three test series with France, starting this Saturday night in Dunedin. After the emotional high of the Crusaders' redemption championship, he has had his training load managed after playing the entirety of both the semi and final. Such a shift is rare for a modern day front rower, but Newell isn't fussed.
"I think for me, just playing rugby is really important. Stacking weeks on weeks and I know last year we missed a few weeks before the first test, you kind of fall out of that routine a bit. So, I think for me, like being in routine and to be able to just keep stacking training weeks is really important physically."
Newell pointed out that the test match intensity of the Super Rugby Pacific play-offs was the perfect pre-cursor to the test season, although it will still require a step up.
"It's a little bit more difficult. Obviously, there's a lot of experienced players around us, but I think it's just having that courage to, to tell them what we need. I think that's really important part of being a tighthead prop as well, you've got to communicate with everyone on the field, have those little simple adjustments and be able to execute it under pressure."
That includes communicating directly with the likes of Scott Barrett to push harder in the scrums, on the surface a rather unenviable situation.
"We have built up that trust, throughout Super Rugby. And then also when we come in here, we're encouraged to speak what we need to say."
The All Black scrum has been one of the success stories of the last few seasons, however has suffered the loss this week of Tamaiti Williams, who is out with a knee injury for the next six to eight weeks. Newell is well aware of just how crucial the scrum will once again be, and how it will be adjudicated throughout the season.
"Obviously there's a lot of a lot of moving parts and it is a really tough thing to be out for a referee who's under a lot of pressure to be able to make a call in a big moment. What we've got to do to give the ref clear pictures, stay really nice and square and show both sides going forward. So the more we can do that and show dominance, we're confident in the referee to make that decision."
