Super Rugby’s top try-scorer this year, Waisake Naholo made his worldwide debut for New Zealand amid much hype in a Rugby Championship game against Argentina on July 17.
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Ten weeks after suffering a broken leg in his debut Test, traditional Fijian medicine has brought All Blacks try ace Waisake Naholo back and ready to confront Georgia in the World Cup on Friday.
Seeking a third straight win in Pool C to secure qualification to the quarterfinals, the All Blacks selected a largely full-strength team that included recalls flanker Richie McCaw as captain and flyhalf Dan Carter.
But despite facing a lesser opponent, the All Blacks are wary of what the Lelos could accomplish on the pitch come game time, especially Georgia’s captain Mamuka Gorgodze, the 6-foot-5 260-pound wrecking machine. “He placed a few of the leaves we use back in Fiji“.
“My uncle does a little bit of massages there”, Naholo said.
Dismissing talk of a “miracle cure”, New Zealand coach Steve Hansen said the timing of Naholo’s comeback was expected.
“To have him out on the track after the disappointment of thinking we weren’t going to be able to select him, to get a second chance is wonderful”.
Both back up number 10s, Beauden Barrett and Colin Slade are on the injured list as is centre Ma’a Nonu, who remains stranded on 99 Tests.
“Georgia aren’t a team who we know a lot about”, Hansen said.
The other major talking point is in the front row where Tony Woodcock and Owen Franks are on the bench, with Wyatt Crockett and Charlie Faumuina starting. “Waisake’s not a witch doctor, not a doctor, all he knows is his leg is right and we know too, because of the X-rays”.
Hansen said with only one fit first five-eighth available, TJ Perenara would cover that role off the bench, if needed.
Nonu is replaced by Sonny Bill Williams and the Millennium Stadium could well witness a drubbing, with Georgia’s coach, another New Zealander in Milton Haig, making seven changes in the pack of the side who beat Tonga and lost against Argentina.
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Their maiden meeting with the All Blacks will be a great occasion for the Georgians, but it’s clear they are already looking further ahead, to the pool closer against Namibia on October. 7. “We’ve got a five-day backup after this All Blacks game, and Namibia’s very important for us to achieve our goal of qualifying automatically for 2019″.
