NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Sport / Rugby / All Blacks

Dylan Cleaver: NZ Rugby chairman Brent Impey - the All Blacks' perfect man for times of tough hardness

NZ Herald
28 Aug, 2019 05:30 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Brent Impey and Steve Hansen. Photo / Photosport

Brent Impey and Steve Hansen. Photo / Photosport

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

COMMENT:

Owen Franks is probably the closest a front row forward has ever come to trending.

Luke Jacobson, the 22-year-old "bolter" with a Cambridge education (High, not University), has made it.

But neither the "great omission" nor the "surprise inclusion" stole the show at the All Blacks World Cup team naming. That honour went to Brent Impey.

Read more
Premium: The Chosen Ones: All you need to know about the 31 World Cup All Blacks
Premium: Dylan Cleaver - The All Blacks' perfect man for times of tough hardness
Premium: Any other nation would pick him - why was SBW chosen over Laumape?
World media shocked by 'ruthless' All Black selections
Unlucky four: The biggest losers from All Blacks' World Cup squad

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Looking like someone who learned at 11.45am that the team naming was at midday, not 1pm, Impey was the bed-headed man whose every word we hung on.

He welcomed the room with greetings in all the languages of the players' heritages he was about to read out. There were subtle clues to be found in this: there would be no Portuguese-speaking players selected.

Then, with all the gravitas of a war-time prime minister, he began reading the names.
"Beauden Barrett, Blues and Taranaki…"

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It's hard to remember the last time Barrett played for Taranaki and given he's yet to suit up for the Blues it seemed an unnecessarily cruel burn of the Hurricanes.

Once he'd got through all the extended Barrett family it was hard to maintain interest, although the inclusion of the perpetually injured Ryan Crotty raised an eyebrow.

Discover more

All Blacks

'One of the great All Blacks': Hansen on 'tough' World Cup calls

28 Aug 07:00 AM
All Blacks

'Rolled the dice': Hansen's big World Cup gamble

28 Aug 06:00 AM
Sport|rugby

Dylan Cleaver: The major issue impacting our athletes

02 Sep 03:00 AM

That meant that the name read out after Nepo Laulala was unlikely to be Ngani Laumape.

Life can be cruel, but at least he would have received a call to let him know and there were no cameras to record his distress, unlike in 1991 when the chairman of the board went from Jason Hewett to Craig Innes while the unlucky Laurence Hullena was in the room.

Coach Steve Hansen during the All Blacks' 2019 Rugby World Cup squad announcment at Eden Park. Photo / Photosport
Coach Steve Hansen during the All Blacks' 2019 Rugby World Cup squad announcment at Eden Park. Photo / Photosport

On Impey chuntered, to Angus Ta'avao, which meant no Liam Squire, the mystery man of New Zealand rugby judging by the contradictory headlines we've read about his availability/selection prospects in the past few weeks.

Patrick Tuipulotu was picked though, indicating that Brodie Retallick's body is fragile enough that the selectors felt they couldn't fudge it with three specialist locks and a hybrid lock-loosie.

Now we were into the Ws and the cruel alphabetic trick that had all the Sonny Bill haters on edge until the very last name.

He's going, time to get angry.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

With that, the camera shifted from Impey to Steve Hansen, where it should have been all the time.

Why does tradition dictate that some dishevelled old dude gets to read out the most important squad in the history of the last four years?

It's not Chairman Impey's horse that Cantabrians are going to spit at when the All Blacks return home after a crushing semifinal defeat. The board chose Hansen to select this squad and they've left him in charge of coaching it. Hansen, not the board, rang the players most unlucky to miss out.

But he's not allowed to read out his team.

When it was time for Hansen to talk, it was obvious he'd spent the morning with an online thesaurus. He had a few buzzwords to share.

Hard. Tough. Massive task. Pressure. Scrutiny. Expectation. Most fiercely contested. Pressure. Expectation. Overwhelming.

Any doubts about what an overwhelmingly massive task it was to win a fiercely contested World Cup under the pressure of highly scrutinised expectation were laid to rest. This will be tough. It will be hard.

We can cope though, and it's comforting to know that in tough times of hardness, we can turn to the chairman for comfort.

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from All Blacks

Premium
All Blacks

Why switching Ioane and Vaa'i could redefine All Blacks' strategy

03 Jul 06:01 PM
All Blacks

France name eight newcomers to face All Blacks

03 Jul 05:39 PM
All Blacks

All Blacks v France: All you need to know

03 Jul 05:20 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from All Blacks

Premium
Why switching Ioane and Vaa'i could redefine All Blacks' strategy

Why switching Ioane and Vaa'i could redefine All Blacks' strategy

03 Jul 06:01 PM

Four debuts grab attention but two other switches carry more weight for the All Blacks.

France name eight newcomers to face All Blacks

France name eight newcomers to face All Blacks

03 Jul 05:39 PM
All Blacks v France: All you need to know

All Blacks v France: All you need to know

03 Jul 05:20 PM
‘Shown their class’: Robertson backs All Blacks rookies for French debut

‘Shown their class’: Robertson backs All Blacks rookies for French debut

03 Jul 01:00 AM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP