Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Liam Squire brings sense of unpredictability on eve of All Blacks' World Cup squad naming

Liam Squire. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)

Flanker Liam Squire is providing an unpredictable edge to what should otherwise be a familiar group of All Blacks named on Wednesday to defend their Rugby World Cup crown.

ADVERTISEMENT

Steve Hansen will spring few surprises, when he announces his 31-strong squad for Japan in the confines of the Eden Park changing rooms.

New Zealand’s last-start 36-0 trouncing of Australia served twin purposes for the veteran coach: convincing the public his team are on track for Japan, and finding solutions for a handful of contestable positions.

One glaring question mark is the availability of dynamic back-rower Squire, who raised eyebrows by making himself unavailable for the Rugby Championship campaign for personal reasons.

A first-choice blindside flanker for Hansen for the last two years, the 28-year-old became the first player since Brad Thorn in 2001 to publicly withdraw from All Blacks contention.

Hansen has said he will await a phone call from Squire to determine his World Cup availability. That call was reportedly made in recent days but New Zealand Rugby can’t confirm if he is back in the frame.

Another cloud is the fitness of accomplished lock Brodie Retallick, who dislocated his shoulder in the 16-16 draw with South Africa a month ago but should nevertheless make the cut.

ADVERTISEMENT

With a return date still unclear, four specialist locks are likely to travel to Japan as a safety net.

The most threadbare position is five-eighth, where Beauden Barrett and Richie Mo’unga are set to be the only specialist pivots.

Barrett has established himself as a first-choice fullback this year, leaving Hansen praying that neither suffers injury.

The form of two veterans – prop Owen Franks and outside back Ben Smith – has deteriorated in 2019 but both are expected to be included.

ADVERTISEMENT

Franks and Smith were in the starting XV who beat Australia in the 2015 final at Twickenham but could struggle to find a berth in the team for the blockbuster opening pool game against South Africa in Yokohama on September 21.

Missing from that great side of four years ago are a group of long-serving stars headed by captain Richie McCaw and five-eighth Dan Carter.

Hansen has successfully built a new team around captain Kieran Read and overseen just six losses in 46 Tests since the last global tournament.

AAP

In other news:

Video Spacer
ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

f
fl 18 minutes ago
‘The problem with this year’s Champions Cup? Too many English clubs’

"Right, so even if they were the 4 worst teams in Champions Cup, you'd still have them back by default?"

I think (i) this would literally never happen, (ii) it technically couldn't quite happen, given at least 1 team would qualify via the challenge cup, so if the actual worst team in the CC qualified it would have to be because they did really well after being knocked down to the challenge cup.

But the 13th-15th teams could qualify and to be fair I didn't think about this as a possibility. I don't think a team should be able to qualify via the Champions Cup if they finish last in their group.


Overall though I like my idea best because my thinking is, each league should get a few qualification spots, and then the rest of the spots should go to the next best teams who have proven an ability to be competitive in the champions cup. The elite French clubs generally make up the bulk of the semi-final spots, but that doesn't (necessarily) mean that the 5th-8th best French clubs would be competitive in a slimmed down champions cup. The CC is always going to be really great competition from the semis onwards, but the issue is that there are some pretty poor showings in the earlier rounds. Reducing the number of teams would help a little bit, but we could improve things further by (i) ensuring that the on-paper "worst" teams in the competition have a track record of performing well in the CC, and (ii) by incentivising teams to prioritise the competition. Teams that have a chance to win the whole thing will always be incentivised to do that, but my system would incentivise teams with no chance of making the final to at least try to win a few group stage matches.


"I'm afraid to say"

Its christmas time; there's no need to be afraid!

118 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING James O'Connor on Crusaders preseason: 'I haven't experienced anything like it' O'Connor on Crusaders preseason
Search