ROSEMARY ABBOTT | Sport
SHOULD’VE PLAYED MORE TESTS
Canterbury’s Craig Chamberlain is one hard man to please.
“Oh bloody hell, bring in Matt Todd will ya?!” Chamberlain bemoaned as he gazed over the All Blacks team to play the Wallabies this week.
The 56 year-old from the Christchurch suburb of Shirley was again clearly frustrated that the All Blacks team sheet did not live up to his expectations.
It’s not that Will Jordan isn’t starting at fullback, but more to the fact Dalton Papalii has been given a start at openside flanker against the Wallabies to replace the injured Sam Cane.
Chamberlain, like many Cantabrians, reckons former Crusaders and All Blacks flanker Matt Todd should have played many more tests for the All Blacks than he did. This is despite Todd playing in Japan for the past three seasons and being recently called in to be Canterbury’s assistant coach.
“Gee, when will the AB’s get a decent openside flanker in our pack? How’d they let Matt Todd head overseas in his prime? He was clearly the best since Richie McCaw and better than Cane!!” Chamberlain said with predictable disgust as he took a sip from his Canterbury Draught.
Todd, who was arguably one of the best openside flankers in recent years before his overseas stint, was restricted to only 25 tests over seven seasons since his debut with the All Blacks in 2013. This was much to the frustration of the general public, especially loyal Cantab supporters who always believed he was on the same level, if not better than McCaw at certain times.
“He only played 20 odd tests because of Hansen and Fozzie’s love affair with Sam Cane and Ardie Savea got the better of them and seems to be bloody never ending,” Chamberlain said with further frustration.
“Seriously, he’s only 34! Get him back in there before the 2023 Rugby World Cup. He’ll get more turnovers than Cane ever will at this rate!”
More to come.
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