Brent Pope: Arnie Savea to replace McCaw

Cane is better defensively than Savea at this stage and defense is everything at test level

Read has the eight Jersey signed and sealed - he had a massive world cup final as did the entire All Black back row - talk of him not being the captain or being on the bench is plain stupid - he has been groomed as the new captain for four years now and that is exactly what he will be

Matt Todd is an amazing player who is the best 7 in NZ as far as allowing a team to play together between attack ,defense ,contest the ball ,not give away penalties. he is a fantastic team player. he has learned so much over the last couple,of seasons. It is hard to go past Savea, Cane, Ione etc but Todd is first class with huge work rate and underrated skills.

His brother Reiko is not a bad talent either... only 18 and after Rio I hope he concentrates on the 15 man game with Akira ... and the best thing about these two guys, they both had signed up for the Blues!! ... eat your heart out if you are not a Blues fan! ... lol

Thx Danny, This was by far the most interesting post in response to the original. Look forward to the next season and beyond

Indeed -I hope and expect he'll be 6 in 4 years time. I think he was slightly unlucky to miss the cut this time. Personally I doubt Ardie Savea has it to be great at test level. A very good super player and an exceptional 7s player though

Arnie Savea?, was Sylvester Savea not available?, heck Bruce Savea would do a better job..

My fearless predictions: Cane - will compete with Ardie for the next two years for 7 but with benefit of incumbency will get the casting vote. Beyond that totally up to relative form. Ardie Savea - see Cane Vito - will remain on bench for 2 years but increasingly struggle versus Ioane who will emerge as cover for 6, 8, lock + lineout. Victor will go to France for the $ as deserved two time RWC winner and fine AB servant but never a great. Ioane - see Victor Read - subject to health will captain ABs in Japan 2019 at 8 Kaino - two time RWC winner will bow out after 2017 Lions as AB great Luatua - will struggle to make bench and career splutters out post Lions. Always selected as a "X is inured so who's next" player never demanded selection. Recognise this will be a harsh call for some. Cruden - will go to Japan as 10 subject to health and goal kicking. Latter critical. Beauden - most potent bench back I've seen in years. Will stay there for Japan. No shame in that. Goal kicking and tendency for erratic performance his weakness. Lima - very very good journeyman. No shame in that but will be overrun by 2018 Others: Pocock - waiting for new 8 to emerge which gets him back to 7 and dumps Hooper Hooper - at high risk of better 8 option emerging

What ? lots of blow and no go ?

Well not all the time. Its horses for courses sometimes and you dont introduce 35 odd new players in four seasons by picking your best side every time. He applies a range of player management practises that both welcome in new talent and rest players when they need it. Scotland last year is a side no one would have selected if given a thousand attempts. He wanted to put fringe players under pressure. Defending a 100+ year legacy meant guys like James Parsons were right under the hammer. But the big ones yes he applies a mixture pf loyalty and consistency.

Yes exactly. Hes been chasing McCaw till now, but now he needs to check the rear view mirror. Different pressure.

Of course you can, it was an opportunity to showcase his talent on the world stage

t-man Cheers mate for the input and I'm leaning to your Sopoanga reasoning also - unless of course, he leads the Hi-landers to a repeat SR win, next season. Then that'll change the landscape considerably. I also agree, with your Barrett comment too. As for Cane - yes atm, he deserves first crack but as you say, he will have to be more than a steady-eddy.....he will have to be the alpha-male in the pack or else, he'll get bitten on the back-side, by those coming up behind.

Hi OB, probably all those you've named, but I think even Cane will be challenged. I see Ioane in there somewhere, a remarkably mature player for his 19 years, he's done so much already without being an AB yet. I think Cruden will return because he's the only 10 we have with consistently good performances at 10 as an International and in the wake of Carter leaving his hopefully total recovery from the knee injury for a fresh start in 2016 is a godsend. Too early to worry about goalkicking yet and I don't think Sapoaga will ever become the regular AB 10. Something thats predictable and flat about his game. He turns up, but for me he doesnt own the space enough. Perhaps he'll become more visible but so far he's on the end of a sure but steady upward trend, and I don't think it will take much to push ahead of him. Cruden probably pushes the line to hard too often and perhaps someone in between them will come along (another DC basically!) but until then he's the starter for me. Honestly dont know what to think of Barretts future here. Id be happy if he came on in the 50th minute of the next 50 tests! With Milner Skudder I think there's a few like him that will come through. The steppers with a lot of touch experience behind them that give them that extra room quickly with a slight jink here and there- all coming from Touch where you're trying to avoid outstretched hands rather than a full tackle- clearly he's played a lot of it as he looks to shift the instant he gets the ball every time. Vito and Luatua's 'renaissance' will be interesting as well. Both had huge promise, both lost their way for various reasons. But my interest is now also in those we don't know. In 2011 at this time many of the current players most would never have heard of. Someone getting his first ITM contract this year could be a World beater in 2019- it happens that quickly when the pool is so rich in talent. I saw it in M Jones when we used to see him at age group for Waitemata. We'd all be going 'watch this bloke' at least two to three years before he floored the country in 87. One of those will be out there now... :-)

Fair points t-man but can I ask you this one......if as we assume, the current template for succession is based around a bunch of youngsters all coming through the system for AB selection and built around 6-8 experienced players designated to form the core of the team, then who do you consider will fill those 6-8 positions, say post-2019?? Would you look at a 4x4 split between backs and forwards or a 5fwd/3backs combo of experience to continue - all of course subject to minimal injury impacts, maintaining good fitness levels and of course, the financial lure of the NH. I would hazard a guess and go a 5/3 split with Taylor (hooker), Retallick (lock), Cane (flank), Luatua (lock/flank/No8) and Moody (prop) in the forwards and Fekitoa (centre), Milner-Skudder (wing/FB) and a toss up between Barrett, Sopoanga and Cruden (FH) cos I can't quite decide, for the backs. Anyway, these would be my core experienced players post-2019 to build the next side for RWC 2023....its all hypothetical of course but a decent teaser to get some comments??

fully agree bluesman, but read isnt going to the olympics where is akira is. that gives keiran another season in his jersey. akira is awesome and as much as i love the way read plays and all he's contributed to the ABs akira is the next best thing

i'd be very surprised if cruden got vice captain. cruden has wolves at his door. otereBlack, limaSopoanga,the mckenzie bros damian in particular. good depth at 1st5 if keiranRead can make the ABs then he's automatic captain not cane. cane cant even make the starting line up. canes an awesome player but he's gotta up his game if he wants to mortgage richies jersey. ardie's a knockin at the door and shouldve gone to the WC...imho

You mean Ben from accounts! I love him!

My point is the wider one that says there's players out there waiting to make a point and four years is a long time. Hansen introduced over 30 players since the last World Cup of which one has already become World player of the year, another novice player of the year, Savea is now a top 2 or 3 winger of all ABs, Aaron Smith is up there at best or near in the World already. And there are more. 16 year olds will be 20, 17 will be 21 and none wil be household names playing first XV stuff now. It's not a question of whether there will be further world class players in four years time it's simply a matter of how many. Nothing in rugby is surer than that at the moment. The reason for that is NZ is doing things right better than anyone else in that area, has only a low population as a barrier, and with the current standards and passion for the game set by the ABs, it means the excitement levels in the game here are better than ever. Sam Cane is not just up against Savea and whoever else, he's up against the new wave of player waking up every morning wondering what they need today to get that jersey. Sounds a bit dramatic, perhaps, but I think that's the reality.

Read is one head knock away from retirement.