Goodbye Goldie, and sympathy for shafted Randell

By CHRIS RATTUE

If Jeff Wilson's thinking had been a bit clearer, he might have gone and sat on the Canterbury bench instead of Otago's after he was concussed during the NPC final. It could have saved his test career.

The Canterbury bench, after all, is one of the best places from which to win an All Black jersey these days. And Wilson was playing for his test future.

The list of Red-and-Blacks who have prepared for John Mitchell's squad via the bench is quite extraordinary.

Brad Thorn, Dave Hewett and Ben Blair all started the final on Saturday night sitting down.

League convert Thorn's selection invites controversy. He certainly looks a great raw prospect, a powerful athlete, but what if he was forced into extended test action right now? He's hardly had enough time on the field to prove himself or pick up the subtleties of the game.

Chris Jack was also sitting down on Saturday night - in the grandstand, where he looked relaxed and a picture of health.

One of Canterbury's best, Norm Maxwell, has just come off the bench. The bench press, that is, at the gymnasium.

And then, of course, there is the brilliant Andrew Mehrtens, who after battling injury, couldn't even get on to the bench of the Crusaders (the summer name for the Canterbury team) and instead played at the local park. Not that Wilson can complain. He did take nearly an entire season off last year, including the All Blacks' campaign.

So it looks as though the curtain might have come down on Goldie's test career. It has involved 60 tests, in which he has scored an All Black record 44 tries.

At his best, Wilson was an immaculate test player, but the 28-year-old's prowess has appeared to be receding with his hairline. Still, has he really had that bad a season?

He was outstanding in his reading of the game when the All Blacks fired up against South Africa at Eden Park this year. And he has suffered from Taine Randell Syndrome: not knowing quite where he would be playing each week after being plonked on the right and left wings plus fullback during the season.

Maybe Wilson's game has now fallen between the stools of speed and power. Mitchell said he knows Wilson's abilities, and that he would "have to come through the Super 12 in 2002."

It hardly sounds like a ringing endorsement, though. Randell, like Wilson, was not prepared to talk to the media yesterday, according to Otago officials.

Randell may have fallen between the three stools that make up the loose forward's game.

But if they ever had a prize entitled "The All Black Dicked Around the Most," then Randell deserves first, second and third.

For a start, he was made All Black captain when too young and not established, by coach John Hart, who sometimes seemed to be searching for the sort of discoveries a la Michael Jones that kicked off his coaching career in the 1980s.

But most significantly, Randell could never be sure if the powers that be saw him as an openside, blindside or No 8 - which must have made training and preparation particularly hard.

There are marked differences in the positions. Just compare the sort of game openside Richard McCaw plays to that of No 8 Paul Miller.

You'd hardly go up to Miller, a bloke who has the size that fits his obsession with eating pies, and tell him he was playing openside next week.

Even this year, Wayne Smith persisted with Randell as an openside, ignoring Marty Holah's claims for the job and robbing Randell of the chance to prove himself at blindside, his true position.

Randell's career has extended past his loss of the leadership, and he seemed to be an important lieutenant for Anton Oliver.

He was given a chance to stay at the top after the chop. But yesterday, the day before his 27th birthday, Randell found himself unwanted. The All Blacks may find they miss his clever defending and link passes.

And when you take into account the way the talented Jerry Collins' season declined with the Wellington Crazy Gang, it seems a very tough call on Randell. Maybe he isn't the man for the job, but he's hardly had a decent chance to prove it.