KEY POINTS:
All Blacks planning to go overseas this year may still be chosen for the Tri-Nations and domestic tests series.
Coach Graham Henry indicated yesterday that unless the player was leaving a "week or two" after the series, he would be up for selection.
"We pick the best team,"
was his answer to questions about the status of such players as five-eighths Nick Evans, who will link up with English club Harlequins after the Air New Zealand Cup, or Daniel Carter, who is widely expected to be allowed a sabbatical at the end of the year.
The All Black selectors name their first squad of the year on June 1 for the tests against Ireland on June 7 in Wellington and England on June 14 in Auckland and June 21 in Christchurch.
On the discussions with Carter over leave, Henry said he had not been involved personally but "we are working through channels to make sure that Dan understands our viewpoint, which is pretty obvious. We'd like him to stay".
"As long as we try to keep rugby players in this country, I think it's a positive. If that's [a sabbatical] a goer for a particular player and it gives them some time away from New Zealand to recharge and it fits the individual, it would be a good thing."
Henry said he agreed with the New Zealand Rugby Union policy of not selecting players from overseas.
"If we make that available, a huge number would go and I don't think that's good for New Zealand rugby."
He did not think the NZRU's stand would change.
There were not too many concerns looking ahead to naming the test squad. There were a few injury issues, such as Joe Rokocoko's hand injury.
Henry admitted that two positions which would be exercising the selectors' minds were lock and second five-eighths.
"The middle row has been a concern and we've still got some talking and viewing to do. There's not a lot of international experience at second five-eighths, for example."
He was less concerned with the midfield, where there were a number of centres of international experience.
Questioned about Blues coach David Nucifora's preference for Benson Stanley over All Black Isaia Toeava recently, Henry said Nucifora had made the decision Stanley was playing better and "you had to respect him for that".
"I'm sure Isaia's thought about that and when he gets the opportunity, hopefully he'll nail it."
There were a number of young players who had come through the Super 14 well but who probably needed a bit of space to recuperate.
"I don't think you'll see a whole host of 19, 20 and 21-year-olds in the All Blacks. But, maybe when we get extra numbers at the end of the year from 26 to the early 30s, there will be young guys on that tour."
Henry said what he had seen of the experimental law variations this year had been positive. However, the tests against Ireland and England would be played under the old rules.
"I would like to think that we all play global rules in international rugby but we can't do that in this series because the guys from the Northern Hemisphere haven't experienced any of the new laws."
He predicted that the Super 14 semifinalists looked like being the Crusaders, Hurricanes, Stormers and Waratahs. "But the Blues might just sneak in there."