Super form puts TJ Perenara back in All Blacks frame for World Cup
Hurricanes scrum-half now challenging Aaron Smith for New Zealand number nine jersey
TJ Perenara's fledgling test career looked like it might be over almost before it got off the ground after a rough ride behind an experimental pack in his second match in the All Blacks number nine shirt last November.
Coach Steve Hansen had decided that with the World Cup looming in less than 12 months, he wanted to see how his bench and fringe players would handle the pressure without the core of experienced heads around them.
The scrum-half duly had a torrid time in Edinburgh as the All Blacks forwards failed to provide him with clean ball, even though the world champions typically managed to sneak away with a 24-16 victory over Scotland.
Media reports of the match were unequivocal that incumbent scrum-half Aaron Smith was not under any pressure from Perenara for the World Cup.
In this sport if you stay the same, then you get passed because everyone else gets better. You have to improve each week
That turned into concern that Hansen could be struggling for a suitable replacement should Smith get injured when Tawera Kerr-Barlow was ruled out for nine months with a knee problem that put his World Cup selection in doubt.