KEY POINTS:
Get over it, they say. Get used to it, it is the modern rugby way. Maybe it is but the last time I listened, I was sure the All Black selectors had ditched the rotation scheme and certainly the word.
Well whichever way you dice it, rotation is
back with new caps for Richard Kahui and Rudi Wulf against England this Saturday and when Tony Woodcock rumbles off the pine as a pinch-hitting prop, he will be the 27th player used in three tests this season.
Everyone gets a black jersey or so it seems. Halfback Brendon Leonard would have been another but he is dinged and recovering with the squad while prop Ben Franks is also hovering around the group to cover for injury.
The 2008 term is "investment" rather than "rotation", the expression which became such a hated monument to the weak World Cup campaign. But investment here equals rotation as four changes and two positional switches were made for Saturday's second test against England.
Why? The All Black selectors have seen what England offer and know they have an advantage against them and can tinker with their backline.
There are no changes in the front five or key roles at openside flanker, halfback, first and second five-eighths - the spine of the team remains the same. But around that backbone they have tinkered, they have returned to rotating players.
Who gets rotated? Not the tight five, not captain Richie McCaw or five-eighths maestro Daniel Carter. It is the fringe players like Anthony Tuitavake, Conrad Smith, and Jerome Kaino or Mils Muliaina who is in a close contest with the experienced Leon MacDonald anyway.
"I'm 100 per cent behind it, I think the changes will keep us on edge," assistant coach Wayne Smith said.
They are certain too and will likely be successful as well because there is not much between a number of players while England have not been a massive threat in their backline.
Arguments will centre on the need to blood players, to keep others fresh, but if that is the case then why not start Anthony Boric, John Schwalger, Sione Lauaki or Stephen Donald. I think we know the answer.
