Rugby: ABs likely to leave out Piutau

The All Blacks feel Charles Piutau's guilty of saying one thing and doing another. Photo / Getty Images

Decision to accept Ulster’s big-money offer could end back’s hopes of World Cup spot.

Charles Piutau may have cooked his World Cup goose. For the simple reason the All Blacks feel he's guilty of saying one thing and doing another.

The trust has been broken and, fair or not, the perception exists within the higher reaches of the game that Piutau reneged on a contract to stay in New Zealand until 2017.

The facts are not disputed by either the New Zealand Rugby Union or Piutau's management team. It's the interpretation that differs.

One side sees it one way ... the other ... has an alternative view.

Negotiations between the NZRU and Piutau's management team began on January 20 this year. By early March there was a final draft of a two-year contract. It was a contract that ticked every box and Piutau signed it. He was happy to sign it and the NZRU were told as much.

But the contract wasn't returned to the NZRU. It stayed in the offices of Piutau's management team as the day before he signed it, an unsolicited offer arrived from Ulster.

Piutau was asked, after he had signed but not sent his contract to the NZRU, whether he would like to explore the Irish offer. He said yes.

The deal was extraordinary - believed to be about $1 million a season. The more Piutau thought about it, the more he decided it was what he wanted to do and last Thursday, he committed.

He signed the deal with Ulster and asked his management team to rip up the signed offer from the NZRU.

Piutau's team say there has been no betrayal or dishonesty. It was business. He was ready to stay until the Ulster offer changed everything.

The All Black coaches feel that money - however much - shouldn't have been able to force a change of heart.

In their conversations with Piutau they made it clear they saw him as part of their World Cup plans.

He wasn't certain to go, but he would be a hard man to leave out. They also said they felt he'd have an incredible opportunity to build his test career post World Cup when a handful of senior All Blacks had moved on.

They felt Piutau was sold on that idea, committed to playing test football and convinced the experience of international rugby was not something money could trump.

How this reconciles won't be known until the All Blacks pick their first squad of the year. But it would be a surprise if Piutau features.

It's not a case of him being punished for making a choice the coaches didn't like. Hansen won't be petulant. Look at Adam Thomson in 2012 - he went to Europe with the All Blacks despite not having any idea where he was going to wash up in 2013. It was the same with Sonny Bill Williams earlier that year - he was off to Japan and the NRL but he still played a test the week before he left.

Hansen has been clear from day one - he'll pick the best players regardless. The All Blacks aren't a development team - they are heading to England later this year with one goal in mind and each of the 31 players will be picked on the basis they give New Zealand the best chance of success.

The World Cup will be brutal and the All Blacks will need players who the coaches feel have the passion and desire to empty their soul.

However much it might hurt Piutau to believe this - to the All Black coaches, it looks awfully like he's sold his test jumper for a million dollars.