Ben Franks moves to the Hurricanes

[Shaggy]

Looks like Ben Franks has finally made a decision, and it's not a move to the Highlanders ... he signed with the Hurricanes and Hawkes Bay, and will concentrate on playing at loose head prop to try and regain his All Black place.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/7715145/Ben-franks-inks-deal-with-the-hurricanes

Interesting rumour on Gareth Anscombe as well

 

[nickdnz]

w00t!!!!!!!!!

Yes! Very pleased with this. He's exactly the sort of player Hurricanes need. Someone to sure up the scrum and a powerful defender (which was a big positive for us last year).

 

[Shaggy]

w00t!!!!!!!!!

Yes! Very pleased with this. He's exactly the sort of player Hurricanes need. Someone to sure up the scrum and a powerful defender (which was a big positive for us last year).

Yes, quality tight forwards are probably what the Canes need ... it's a plesant surprise, as thought he would have gone to the Blues, if he didn't go to the Highlanders

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

This means that all the franchises now have All Blacks props:

Blues: Faumuina
Chiefs: Tameifuna (not capped, of course)
Hurricanes: Franks
Crusaders: Franks, Crockett
Highlanders: Woodcock, Mackintosh

Throw in Smith, Afeaki, May and King and you've got some solid options behind them too, plus up and comers like Toomaga-Allen etc. I'm liking this spread of talent.

 

[Darwin]

A good move by Franks in my opinion. While I would have loved to have him at the Highlanders, I think he is far better going somewhere where he can concentrate on playing LH prop as:
(a) He is far better at LH prop than TH prop.
(b) He probably has a much better chance of getting in the AB's as a LH prop, as we have a pile of young quality TH props at the moment (O Franks, Tameifuna, Faumuina).

It is great news for the Canes too, as a Franks, Coles, May (or Toomaga-Allen) front row should hold its own at Super Rugby level.

 

[Larksea]

Great for the canes, they are going to start next season odds on to make the finals. Ben Franks is genuine quality and he's got great work ethic, very good guy to have in a squad/team.

I think we have hit a purple patch for props in NZ, lots of quality.

I think Ben may has been really impressive this last year. He really stuck out for me when the canes played the blues this year. The canes scrum was getting destroyed by woodcock, Ben May swapped sides and marked Woodcock and the Canes scrum was solid from then on.

Honestly in terms of pecking order I think he's right up there, I'd say he's just outside the frame of All Black selection. The one area that makes me nervous is he tends to give away a lot of penalties around the breakdown.

I still want to see Toby Smith develop. I think he will be an All Black, just a matter of time, he's the complete package, young, Scrums really well for his age, big, great tackler, good work rate and a genuine ball carrier prop. He and Afeaki have had a bad run of injuries.

I think Crockett and Mackintosh have dropped down the pecking order, Toby Smith and Ben May are on their way up.

Got to be hard being an aspiring Alack Prop these days. Owen Franks looks like he's got a firm hold on the #3 shirt for many years to come and woodcock doesn't look like slowing down, looks very keen to carry through to 2015 and will surely become a centurion for the AB's

But still there is a lot of quality around.

 

[Darwin]

Great for the canes, they are going to start next season odds on to make the finals. Ben Franks is genuine quality and he's got great work ethic, very good guy to have in a squad/team.

I think we have hit a purple patch for props in NZ, lots of quality.

I think Ben may has been really impressive this last year. He really stuck out for me when the canes played the blues this year. The canes scrum was getting destroyed by woodcock, Ben May swapped sides and marked Woodcock and the Canes scrum was solid from then on.

Honestly in terms of pecking order I think he's right up there, I'd say he's just outside the frame of All Black selection. The one area that makes me nervous is he tends to give away a lot of penalties around the breakdown.

I still want to see Toby Smith develop. I think he will be an All Black, just a matter of time, he's the complete package, young, Scrums really well for his age, big, great tackler, good work rate and a genuine ball carrier prop. He and Afeaki have had a bad run of injuries.

I think Crockett and Mackintosh have dropped down the pecking order, Toby Smith and Ben May are on their way up.

Got to be hard being an aspiring Alack Prop these days. Owen Franks looks like he's got a firm hold on the #3 shirt for many years to come and woodcock doesn't look like slowing down, looks very keen to carry through to 2015 and will surely become a centurion for the AB's

But still there is a lot of quality around.

Good post - I certainly agree there is a lot of good props going around New Zealand at the moment. We also have a number of very promising young props not far away from really making their mark too. I think the likes of Fia, Tu'ungafasi, Goodes, and Toomga-Allen will all be regular starters at Super Rugby level within the next couple of seasons, and a couple of these look to have the ability to go even further.