Scott Robertson has called up five new faces for his first All Blacks class of 2025, with his 35-man squad for next month’s series against France named.
Scott Robertson has selected a 33-man squad for France in July.
The team includes six midfielders but just two specialist wings.
It leaves out players previously called up to the All Blacks squad.
The art of picking an All Blacks squad is to ensure there is no egregious exclusion to provide the nation with a cause celebre, but to also pepper the mix with a touch of something new, exotic and enticing to engender a genuine sense of hope and intrigueabout what the team may be capable of.
The skill is to leave the public feeling like they are looking at a squad that makes sense to them: that it is one which largely reflects what they have seen in Super Rugby, but one that comes with a little twist here and there to provide confidence that the selectors have applied their expert analysis and used their access to a deeper intelligence bank to unearth a few surprise picks.
Selection is the window into the soul of the All Blacks, and the best sign that a squad has tickled the imagination, is one that has everyone talking about who is in rather than who has been left out.
But in unveiling his 33-man squad to play France in July, Scott Robertson has managed to produce a somewhat confusing picture, that on balance has intensified rather than lessened any doubts about whether he and his coaching group are wedded to a plan that they all understand.
There are two world-class tight-heads in Tyrel Lomax and Fletcher Newell, the planet’s best player in Ardie Savea, a proven play-maker in Beauden Barrett and an emerging one in Cam Roigard, and the finishing power of Will Jordan – so this is a squad with vast potential.
But the overall balance in picking six midfielders and just two specialist wings doesn’t feel quite right. And if it felt last year that there was an unjustifiably high presence of Crusaders players after a season in which the champion club imploded, there now could be said to have been an overcorrection on that front.
The most confusing element is the abandonment of Ethan Blackadder, David Havili and George Bower (who was called in as cover last year).
The case to pick all three last year was thin, but Blackadder was easily the standout loose forward in the recent Super Rugby finals series. If it was, as it appears, a straight choice between him or Samipeni Finau, the decision to go with the latter is one that has seen the All Blacks swayed by athletic potential.
Chiefs loose forward Samipeni Finau is explosive and athletic. Photo / Photosport
Finau is rangy and explosive, but he’s also been shown to be inaccurate and erratic, and Blackadder’s proven resilience and commitment feels like it would sit neatly in a back-row alongside Savea and Wallace Sititi.
What Blackadder at his best can produce right now, it seems to have been deemed, is less than what Finau may produce once the rough edges of his game have been smoothed.
Havili showed the full range of his skill-set and his new-found leadership ability and, in a congested position, it’s hard to understand why his greater breadth of offering missed out to the narrower portfolio of Timoci Tavatavanawai. The Highlanders man does an incredible line in turnovers and bustling ball carries, but who might lack the pace and aerobic conditioning to play international rugby.
That room has been found for six midfielders – an oddity in itself – and not Havili, is perhaps a sign of New Zealand’s tremendous depth, or more likely reflects Robertson’s desire to pick players with the ability to play multiple positions.
Havili has played test rugby at fullback, but the way the cards have fallen in this particular selection, Robertson needs additional cover at wing because there are only two specialists – Caleb Clarke and Sevu Reece - in the squad.
Bower played his part in a destructive scrum, but has missed out to new cap Ollie Norris, from the Chiefs.
Norris looks like the archetypal modern prop in that he can pass and catch and scamper around the park. But he’s been included as a new cap after being buckled and bent in a Super Rugby final scrummaging battle that the Crusaders won by a knock-out.
Robertson has been open that he wants everyone to play in July, and the heavy weighting of midfielders means that one or possibly two of them – Rieko Ioane and Tavatavanawai – may have to feature on the wing to fulfil that promise.
And that highlights another missed opportunity to bring in a younger, untried option on the wing – particularly when Reece doesn’t induce confidence that he’ll still be a first-choice selection by 2027.
Timoci Tavatavanawai of the Highlanders. Photo / Photosport
Again, there is perhaps an irony that the Crusaders’ Chay Fihaki was called in as cover last year when he had little to no Super Rugby form to justify it, and now, after a truly promising season in which he unveiled his potential, he’s not in the frame.
There are some selections, though, that suggest lessons have been learned from last year.
The arrival of Du Plessis Kirifi in the loose forward mix suggests that Robertson can see a role for the Hurricanes man which is similar to the one Kwagga Smith plays for the Boks.
Kirifi is a turnover specialist and, with that special skill of his where he can pilfer possession in unexpected parts of the field, the All Blacks will feel they have a high-impact trump card to play in the final quarter of big games.
And the return to the All Blacks of Quinn Tupaea gives the All Blacks a second-five who offers a similar way of playing to Jordie Barrett, a player around whom so much of the attack is built.
