MAN ON A MISSION
It didn’t take long, certainly not as long as anyone imagined back in 2016 when the picture looked entirely different.
Back then it was all about Jerome Kaino. The veteran was getting on, that we all knew, but he had a couple more good seasons at least left in those old legs. Enough in the tank to take on the Lions in 2017 and then take stock of where he was at: assess whether he had the desire and ability to make it to 2019 as the best No 6 in the country.
The gamblers were willing to back him making it to 2019 and in the shadows the next generation of blindsides would be developing.
At the start of the year it wasn’t immediately obvious who would be in that next generation. There was a wider group that included Steven Luatua, Elliot Dixon, Brad Shields, Luke Whitelock and Liam Squire who were all hopeful of making the cut.
By June, it was Dixon and Squire who had jumped ahead and by November the latter was beginning to look like the heir apparent.
Squire was the one who emerged strongest and most convincingly in the 2016 Rugby Championship and it looked like the scene was set for him to continue to play cameo roles off the bench with the occasional start throughout 2017.
