New Zealand’s World Cup squad carries a huge amount of experience into the defence of the trophy they won in 2011.
The likes of Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Ma’a Nonu, Conrad Smith and Kieran Read have all tasted World Cup glory before, and many of these players are still the outstanding names in their positions in world rugby.
Any one of those men could prove the decisive element to a second consecutive Webb Ellis Cup for the world’s No. 1 team.
But we are searching for the X-factor here, and by its very definition, we must look beyond the household All Black names if we are to find, as the onlineMerriam Webster dictionary would call it, “a circumstance, quality, or person that has a strong but unpredictable influence.”
In the case of the All Blacks' 31-man party for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, this brings us to Nehe Milner-Skudder.
From uncapped prospect to World Cup bolter, the Hurricanes utility back scooped two tries on his debut—a defeat to Australia—and followed that performance up by creating anther two in the All Blacks' win over their neighbours a week later.
That second display had Greg Stutchbury of Reuters crowing: "He showed not only his jinking side-step, acceleration and ability to keep defenders guessing for the first try but showed the positional play and astute tactical appreciation to seize on space and defensive mismatches for the second."
In two Tests, the 24-year old had catapulted himself into the final squad, reaffirming Steve Hansen's assessment of his qualities, per Reuters: "He can rip teams apart. He's electric, he's vibrant and every time he gets the ball he creates something."
Milner-Skudder doesn’t come with the size and stature of a Julian Savea, but he showed he does possess the power required to cut it at the top level with the nature of his second score against the Wallabies on debut.
New Zealand Herald’s Gregor Paul highlighted: "A man his size had no business getting over the line and yet he was able to quicken his steps as he crashed into three defenders, retain the ball in the initial collision and then find the raw strength to bounce over and fight to get the ball down."
Milner-Skudder is joined in the squad by another novice wing at Test level, WaisakeNaholo. The pair will duel for the right-wing spot, with Savea being the hands-down favourite for the No. 11 jersey and Ben Smith in pole position for Milner–Skudder’s preferred full-back slot.
But as far as the No. 14 jersey goes, Milner-Skudder starts with a clear advantage, as Naholo recovers from a broken leg that is expected to keep him out until the third round of pool matches.
By that time, the man no one outside New Zealand had heard of until his surprise call up could have put the rugby world on notice.
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