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Steve Hansen has announced the All Blacks squad he believes can be the first team to defend the Webb Ellis Trophy.
Over an extremely successful four years, loyalty and faith towards established players has been a key theme of Hansen’s selections. He has generally persevered with those who are out of form, seemingly showing belief that they can recover this form and deliver.
Despite some grumblings from fans and New Zealand media, his outstanding results have deflected major criticism of this philosophy.
This faith is evident through a number of selections. Top of the list is Charlie Faumuina. With a bare minimum of recent rugby under his belt, Hansen has selected him at the expense of Nepo Laulala – a player who despite not setting the world on fire has done little wrong.
I suspect Hansen viewed this on a basis of experience. Faumuina is a much more known quantity that Laulala, and a World Cup is not really the time to blood a player.
The rest of the forwards seem fairly straightforward. Despite Codie Taylor’s inexperience, it is difficult to see what else Hansen could have done with regards to the third hooker. Selecting three locks is a little unusual, but well signposted.
Liam Messam can perhaps consider himself fortunate that Jeremy Thrush showed less sign of being ready for the tournament.
The halves likewise are fairly unsurprising. Tawera Kerr-Barlow can perhaps be considered slightly fortunate, due to his lack of play. However, three halfbacks always seemed the most likely option to me, as the alternative of Colin Slade playing halfback sounded far too speculative for a World Cup.
Following that reasoning, Kerr-Barlow was (again) the most experienced out of the candidates, with Andy Ellis proving not up to Test level any more. This would have been in the minds of the selectors.
Like Laulala, Lima Sopoaga can consider himself unfortunate. It is difficult to see what else he could have done to earn selection. However, once again, Hansen opted for the experience of the three who have competed over the last three years. Dan Carter will start, while I would be tempted to have Slade as backup over Barrett due to his superior goalkicking. Should anything happen to them, Sopoaga will make an extremely able replacement.
The centres warrant little comment, with four straightforward selection. As much as I would have liked to see Ryan Crotty over Sonny Bill Williams due to the latter’s indifferent form, I also accept that that was never going to happen. It was in the back three that the only name that really surprised me appeared.
Make no mistake, Waisake Naholo deserves his place in England. His outstanding Super Rugby form translated well into internationals until his injury. However, I did not expect the selectors to consider him, given his lack of experience and broken leg.
My thoughts were that Hansen’s comments were simply to encourage him and have him not lose heart. It now is clear that I was wrong about this.
This does not seem enough to explain his selection though, due to the large number of candidates in the back three. While much has been written about it thus far, Israel Dagg’s omission does not surprise me. He has quite clearly been the second best fullback in New Zealand behind Ben Smith for some time now, and calls for his demotion from the starting side are not new. The best argument for his inclusion throughout 2013 and 2014 were that he was better than any candidate for the right wing other than Smith.
This is now no longer the case, with the outstanding Nehe Milner-Skudder (among others) proving himself capable. If this seems hard on Dagg, it is worth remembering that he reached the starting line-up under very similar circumstances in the last World Cup. Similarly, Corey Jane never showed enough form to justify taking him.
It was Charles Piutau who I expected to take Naholo’s spot. His form has been similarly good, but with the additional benefit of the international experience Naholo lacks. Thinking of why this selection was made, I remembered a Hansen comment that passion and desire would be a key ingredient in selection.
In this light, this selection makes more sense. Much has been written about Naholo’s use of traditional medicine to attempt to heal his leg. While the scientist in me is skeptical about the impact this had on his leg, there is a clear display of commitment and desire to play international rugby within this story.
The contrast with Piutau, who had a dispute with the New Zealand Rugby Union over his departure at the end of the year, is quite clear. It seems that Piutau’s overseas voyage may have cost him the chance for a World Cup winner’s medal.
Which leads me to the final point: can this squad be the first to defend a World Cup? When looking through the squad, what struck me was the names omitted, rather than those included. The quality players who were not selected seemed to outnumber those whose selections could be considered genuinely lucky. This seems an excellent sign that this squad has what it takes to go all the way.
Congratulations to all those selected.
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