My All Blacks team to play France
ByThe All Blacks take the field this Saturday night in the opening game of the Iveco series against France. Here is my attempt at playing All Blacks selector.
Fullback: Leon MacDonald
Wingers: Doug Howlett, Joe Rokocoko
Centre: Isaia Toeava
Second Five: Aaron Mauger
First Five: Dan Carter
Half-back: Piri Weepu
No. 8: Rodney So’oialo
Openside Flanker: Ritchie McCaw (captain)
Blindside Flanker: Jerry Collins
Locks: Chris Jack, Troy Flavell
Tighthead Prop: Carl Hayman
Hooker: Anton Oliver
Loosehead Prop: Tony Woodcock
Now is not the time for experimentation by the coaching staff, save that for the game against Canada. Instead I believe it is important for the All Blacks to field their top team in order to build combinations and confidence amongst the players.
Centre is shaping up to be a difficult position for the All Blacks with both Conrad Smith and Mills Muliaina suffering hamstring injuries which required the call up of Ma’a Nonu who has now got an ankle injury.
New comer John Schwalger may get a run off the bench, but the reserve prop is likely to be Nemia Tialata who, like Schwalger, can play both sides of the scrum.
The French are not sending all their top players on this tour so the result of this game is far less important than the performance of the All Blacks. Coaches and fans alike will be looking for strong performances from players like Joe Rokocoko, who had very little Super 14 game time, and Troy Flavell, who has been recalled to international rugby after a strong showing for the Blues.
The team for the first test against France will be named later today.
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The My All Blacks team to play France by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
