The Kiwis must have realised that leaving “injured” players behind rather than touring with them is actually a good idea, except that they haven’t bothered with making it farcical by telling porky pies.
Graham Henry and his team have decided to tour without some of their big names. Richie McCaw, Owen Franks, Corey Flynn, Brad Thorn, Kieran Read, Dan Carter Conrad Smith, Mils Muliaina and Sitiveni Sivivatu will not be making the trip to Port Elizabeth next week.
Keven Mealamu will take over the Captaincy from Richie McCaw.
Graham Henry has had a few things to say about the squad touring SA, none of which mentioned injured players being left behind. “As with any All Blacks side, the coaches and players set high expectations and the squad which is heading to South Africa is no different.”
“There is real excitement amongst the squad. We have players returning from injury who will be playing for the All Blacks for the first time this year, while others will be looking to take the opportunity to stake a further claim in the black jersey and ensure selection in the Rugby World Cup, so we will have a team which is hungry to play well.”
“The All Blacks squad leaves for South Africa tomorrow. Meanwhile, Israel Dagg and Zac Guildford will stay home an extra day to play for Hawke’s Bay in their ITM Cup match against Bay of Plenty in Rotorua tomorrow, and travel to South Africa on Sunday morning.”
The inclusion of Victor Vito comes as a surprise to some, meanwhile Jarrad Hoeata will undergo a fitness test before being confirmed as a traveller to SA.
The squad touring SA is:
Forwards: John Afoa, Wyatt Crockett, Ben Franks, Jarrad Hoeata *, Andrew Hore, Jerome Kaino, Keven Mealamu, Liam Messam, Adam Thomson, Samuel Whitelock, Ali Williams, Tony Woodcock and Victor Vito.
Backs: Jimmy Cowan, Israel Dagg, Andy Ellis, Hosea Gear, Zac Guildford, Richard Kahui, Cory Jane, Ma’a Nonu, Colin Slade, Isaia Toeava, Piri Weepu and Sonny Bill Williams.
So the question to ask is, Did Henry plan on doing this all along and was the bitching session about our weakened team nothing but a smokescreen? Or is this a case of “Well if you don’t stick to the SANZAR agreement why should we?”
Personally I think this is just a little to blatant to go unquestioned, but SARU being the goodboys that they are will probably not say a word.
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I hope Henry and the NZRU gets grilled as much as our coach & co.
Bugger, I just wrote the same article..
Looking forward to seeing the likes of Dagg and Toeava play again, those guys are monsters!!
Aren’t they ‘disrespecting’ the proud Bok v AB tradition by sending a weakened team?
Any word from Greg Peters?
I trust he has contacted the NZRU & Henry to get to the bottom of this.
@McLovin (Comment 5) : The difference is that their weakened team won’t get a 30+ hiding, but will probably give our full test side a huge wake-up call.
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 2) : Oops, Sorry.
Is this not a blatant contravention of the SANZAR rules & regulations?
At least our players were injured.
@rhineshark (Comment 7) : Rules are rules. I demand a full investigation of the NZRU and their coaching staff by SANZAR.
hahaha – so now if our A team wins it will still mean nothing.
NO NO NO NO!!!! You must send your strongest available team. I hope they have medical certificates for these players.
@rekinek (Comment 11) : Maybe we wont end with 0 points on the log this year
@Viking (Comment 13) : 2 wins from 2 in SA will see us level with the ABs on points but WAY below them on PD.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 8) :
No no, please carry on.. We need more articles from you!
So the Aussies are the only team to play all their matches with their A Team..
One has to wonder what impact that will have come World Cup time..
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 16) : Considering they will only win one of their tri-nations matches, i think it will be a rather big impact.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 14) : I am not confident that we can beat the Ausies this weekend but we may be able to pull something together at PE with a weakened NZ team. These guys needs a couple of games to gel as a team. But lets hope they can find their form and make it 2 from 2.
I’ve heard it said that the AB struggle or cant win the WC without McCaw or Dan Carter. So. Lets see how true this will be for this test.It’s not the WC, but it’s a Test all the same.
@Viking (Comment 13) : I just wonder what happen if we do
@rekinek (Comment 20) : We break another record
@KSA Shark © (Comment 17) :
You don’t think they might take the All Blacks at home? Especially if the All Blacks field a weakened team?
@Viking (Comment 18) :
I’ll remember this comment after we beat the Aussies tomorrow!!
We’re gonna thrash them boet!!
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 22) : I think this squad is only for SA. If we beat the ABs in PE, they will field a full strength team against the Aussies IMO.
@wpw (Comment 23) : Happy to hear that you are so optimistic and I will eat my words with pleasure.
Perfect chance for the boks to give the abs a good hiding provided we stop respecting them so much,yes they the altimate challenge but they not gods,I say they go out there in pe woop some ab ass
and i’m sure the nz fans and public will not be maliciously attacking their coach … say what you want, the worst onslaught on our coach was from our very own ‘fans’
..Now if we can’t beat this ab team,then I don’t know..