Rugby: All eyes on Manawatu rookie

Manawatu first-five Aaron Cruden is being mentioned as a possible bolter for the All Blacks' end-of-year tour. Photo / Getty Images

Promising Manawatu first five-eighth Aaron Cruden, who had to battle cancer before resuming his rugby career this year, has the opportunity during the forthcoming Air New Zealand Cup to snag an All Black berth.

Cruden, 20, is regarded as one of the coming stars. If he can attract the All Black selectors' attention, perhaps for the end-of-year northern hemisphere tour, it would cap a remarkable comeback after his career was thrown into jeopardy by a bout of testicular cancer last year.

The opportunity is certainly there for the man who captained the world championship-winning New Zealand under-20 team in Japan last month.

In the absence of the injured Daniel Carter, who is still recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon, the All Black selectors have struggled to find a top-notch first five-eighth, and have so far relied on Stephen Donald and Luke McAlister.

Cruden, whose cancer problems forced him to withdraw from the Manawatu squad last September, returned in emphatic fashion in Japan, where his consistent performances earned him the IRB Junior Player of the Year title.

This put him in elite company - previous winners of the award include Isaia Toeava, Jerome Kaino and McAlister, who have all gone on to play for the All Blacks.

Now the drums are beating for Cruden to be given a place in the wider All Blacks squad.

Manawatu coach Dave Rennie said Cruden did not appear to be buying into the hype and was focusing on his game.

"He's obviously got a fair bit of a profile recently because of the Junior World Cup, but we've had the luxury of seeing him play for the last few years," Rennie said.

"He's a level-headed kid and he's not easily satisfied, so he's working hard.

"He's put the World Cup to bed and his focus now is having a good NPC."

Rennie, who also coached Cruden in the under-20 side, said Cruden was a vital asset to Manawatu's NPC campaign.

"He's a good boy and, playing at 10, his job's to run the ship, so he'll certainly be key for us."

Rennie said that while Cruden's game was improving steadily, he was still a way off the country's top team.

"He's not ready at this stage to play for the All Blacks, and it wouldn't be in his best interests. But certainly he has attributes that make him an outstanding 10 and he's shown glimpses last year with us, before he got crook, that he can play at this level," he said.

"He's certainly shown that from an international under-20s point of view, so really his focus is to recreate that form at a higher level.

"Obviously if he has a good NPC, then there may be an opportunity to play a bit of Super 14 and so on. There're quite a few steps to go before All Blacks."

Rennie said the national championship provided a good selection guide for the All Blacks and that Cruden's performance was likely be closely monitored.

"Current players like Joe Rokocoko, Toeava, Conrad Smith - they all played for the All Blacks before they played Super 14, so there are opportunities there," Rennie said.

"In the end I guess it depends how he goes in the NPC.

"It's not uncommon for the All Blacks to take guys straight out of the NPC before they've made Super 14. It's happened with a number of guys, but I think with Aaron he needs to prove himself at Air New Zealand Cup level before he starts worrying about anything higher than that."

- NZPA