7 Unlikely World Cup Stars from Super Rugby

It’s been a Super Rugby season that has been typically full of thrills and spills, and we’ve picked out seven of the top performers who could end up being unlikely stars of the World Cup.

Nehe Milner-Skudder (New Zealand)
In the Hurricanes’ league-topping team, this guy has come from nowhere to become a key member of their swashbuckling backline that has so lit up the competition this year. Comfortable both on the wing and at fullback, he has a devastating sidestep and change of pace, and of course good top end speed. In a full strength Canes backline he is the only non All Black, and has undoubtedly benefitted from feeding off the intelligent attacking play of the likes of Beauden Barrett, Conrad Smith and TJ Perenara. It is his first season of Super Rugby so it might be slightly too soon for him on the international stage, but in reality he has been performing at a higher level than several more experienced campaigners. Check out his highlight reel below.

Video credit: WorldRugby.co

Samu Kerevi (Australia)
Most England and Wales fans will already be concerned about Australia’s midfield, containing as it does the likes of Kurtley Beale, Matt Toomua and Tevita Kuridrani. Samu Kerevi, however, has arguably been the form Australian centre this season, consistently standing out in a thoroughly underwhelming Reds side. He is a similar player to Kuridrani, a powerful, stocky runner who makes a habit of breaking the gainline when he carries. Given the competition in this area he faces a difficult battle in making the final squad, but if Michael Cheika is to pick on form then Kerevi simply has to be in it.

Steven Kitshoff (South Africa)
Kitshoff has agreed a move to Bordeaux Begles next season but the 23 year old loosehead prop has had a breakout season as part of a Stormers front five that has bullied most opposition this year. His impending move to France will likely count against him, but given that South Africa are one of the few countries that will continue to select a player once they have moved abroad, he is far from out of the reckoning. The Stormers are still in the Super Rugby running and a good performance in the knockout stages – however far they get – could well put him in the running for a spot in the wider Rugby Championship squad. The fact that the incumbent Tendai Mtawarira has not been enjoying his most effective season also works in his favour.

Waisake Naholo (New Zealand)
Along with Milner-Skudder, Naholo has been the other genuine unknown quantity that has achieved big things this season. Before the campaign began, he wasn’t a starting option at the Highlanders having been let go from a contract at the Blues the previous year. In fact, so long were his odds of a New Zealand cap that he had agreed a deal with Clermont Auvergne. After a season that has seen him score nine tries and finish near the top of the stats for clean breaks and defenders beaten, the NZRU are working overtime to get him out of that contract to allow him to stay in New Zealand. And indeed if, as expected, they manage that, it would be no surprise to see Naholo feature in the World Cup squad.

Video credit: Worldrugby.co

Nemani Nadolo (Fiji)
Ok, so this guy may not be that unlikely of a star (just ask Wales fans who will be well-versed in his talents after last year’s scare at the Millennium Stadium) but the giant Fijian has had an especially sublime season, even by his brilliant standards. For a man who towers at 6ft 5in and weighs just under 20 stone, it is utterly astonishing that he is so mobile. Not only that, but he has delightfully delicate hands and an excellent kicking game (he place-kicks for the national side) which makes him quite literally the complete package. Fiji are hugely unlikely to trouble the latter stages of the World Cup, but make no mistake – this guy WILL be one of the stars of the group stages.

Taqele Naiyaravoro (Australia/Fiji)
And so we come to the curious case of Taqele Naiyaravoro. Despite his presence on this list, there is a chance that he will not feature at the World Cup. As things stand, he has agreed a three year deal with Glasgow for next season, with a view to qualifying for Scotland in three years. However, after a devastatingly good year on the Waratahs’ flank he is firmly on the Wallabies’ radar, and he is believed to have a clause in his Glasgow contract that would allow him to get out of it were he to be capped before it starts. That will make him a hugely attractive option in the Rugby Championship for Michael Cheika – but the saga doesn’t end there. Reports emerged in the Fijian, and subesquently Australian, press recently alleging that Naiyaravoro had verbally committed himself to playing for his country of birth, Fiji. So quite where he ends up, and whether he will even be at the World Cup, is still very much up in the air, but one way or another he could well be one more players on this list to cause England and Wales sleepless nights in Group A.

Ardie Savea (New Zealand)
His surname means he might be less of an unknown quantity than several of the others on this list, and the younger of the Savea brothers has indeed been on the international radar for some time now. But 2015 has been the year he has really converted all his promise into performances. The openside flanker has arguably been the best player in this year’s tournament, and combines an insatiable workrate with the pace and soft hands of a back. As a Kiwi openside he is, of course, no slough at the breakdown either, and yet the presence of Sam Cane and Richie McCaw may well mean he faces an uphill battle to make the squad.

By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43