Rugby World Cup: All Blacks V France Selection Headaches

Right in the middle of the All Black jersey debacle, Graham Henry has called his first fifteen for the mouthwatering France V New Zealand clash at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday. In there are a few selections I’m not so sure about…

For me the jury is still out on Luke McAlister. He has impact for sure (in a Carlos Spencer type way) but has he got the brain to think tactically on his feet when things are going belly up. Mauger although not so hot on defence, does offer a tactical aspect as well as something else invaluable to the All Black backline: support to Dan Carter which perhaps the 23 year old McAlister is not so au fait with yet. Considering also that this will be the biggest game of McAlister’s life, questions remain whether he has the temperament to match the occasion. I hope so but we will have to wait and see.

Other calls that raised a few eyebrows were the omission of Doug Howlett for Sitiveni ‘butterfingers’ Sivivatu; Mils Muliaina at centre plus Keith Robinson on for Chris Jack. Sivivatu has done himself no favours in his last few outings for the All Blacks with messy distribution and his own personal eye off the ball managing almost singlehandedly to up the All Black error rate to grandiose proportions (ok that's an exaggeration - but I just don't like the guy damn it). I’m surprised he is in the 22 at all as I don’t think he has either warranted his position or has the big match temperament to take it to the French. I hope he proves me wrong.

Muliaina is best at full back and with Les Bleus by the looks of things, planning to play a kicking game deep into the All Black 22 he would have been the safest man for the job. Instead we have McDonald who although is in excellent form, may not be the most reliable when it comes to the up and unders or covering tackles in the pressure cooker moments.

Keith Robinson is abrasive and probably a good starter. That is if he manages to make it through the warm ups (around about an 80% possibility that he won’t). Still, who am I to complain? I’m not Graham Henry (thankfully) so I’ll leave it to them and hope for the best. For a run down of the perceived French strength and weaknesses check out Jonny’s excellent review on Scrumbag.

New Zealand team
L MacDonald; J Rokocoko, M Muliaina, L McAlister, S Sivavutu; D Carter, B Kelleher; T Woodcock, A Oliver, C Hayman, K Robinson, A Williams, J Collins, R McCaw (capt), R So'oialo. Reps: K Mealamu, N Tialata, C Jack, C Masoe, B Leonard, N Evans, I Toeava.

Keith Robinson - had his day with the All Blacks?

I think the All Black lock Keith Robinson is a great rugby player. When he is fit that is. But for big stretches of time (let’s face it, three years and nine months out of four) he is often sidelined because of injury. No matter how much mongrel he has in him (a term the New Zealand public lovingly shower on their toughest stars), the guy doesn’t have much mongrel when it comes to ankles, hamstrings and back complaints. More like new born puppy dog going in for a hip operation.

He is out now and due to miss the two opening matches of the Rugby World Cup because of another injury sustained in training. Which means the All Blacks start the tournament a player short. It is all very well to put faith in him but I don’t see him lasting the tournament (let's face it, he didn’t even last a warm up session before the second test against France in Wellington). Time maybe to start thinking about calling in the reserves, and sadly admitting that Keith has had his day. Brilliance is all very good on the rugby field. But it isn’t much use when you’re sat on the sideline with your leg in a cast looking swish in an Adidas tracksuit.