Richard Loe: Gear and Crockett should be in squad

Wyatt Crockett. Photo / Getty Images

No one else seems to be saying it, so I will. Hosea Gear and Wyatt Crockett should be in the All Blacks' World Cup squad.

Everyone seems to have accepted Tony Woodcock's selection and, if he came through last night's test against the Wallabies in good condition, I'll be as happy as a sandboy.

If not, I'd suggest he might be subject to something we used to say in the All Blacks - FPH (first plane home).

Crockett was unlucky. Most people - usually those who don't know that much about scrummaging - got all bitter and twisted about the penalty count against him in his last test. There are two points to make about that.

First, he has been in fine form in Super Rugby and dealt to all the South African and Australian props. He had one or two problems against the Aussies but let's not forget - they dealt to the Boks scrum too.

Crockett was in fantastic form around the field - he contributed massively at both Super Rugby and test levels.

That leads to my second point: there actually weren't that many scrums in either test. The scrum is important, of course, but you would never select a prop solely for scrummaging ability these days. There's too much required to do elsewhere.

The big difference between the Eden Park test and the Port Elizabeth test, to me, was Owen Franks, Brad Thorn and Wyatt Crockett. The scrum might have steadied a little after Crockett was subbed off at Eden Park - but just look at the work he did round the field and what a handful he was for the Australians.

I believe that if those three people had played at Port Elizabeth it would have made a big difference. The three people who played in their positions (Woodcock, John Afoa and Ali Williams) did not do half the work that Crockett, Franks and Thorn did. That means the loosies against the Boks had a much harder job to do.

Ibet if you watched the video and did the stats, Crockett would have performed at double the level of Afoa and Woodcock combined. Can the All Blacks afford to be without that kind of form up front?

I feel sorry for Gear too - I thought he was pretty much a certainty. Sitiveni Sivivatu has been erratic but I thought Gear had done enough.

I know the selectors said work round the field was a criterion and Gear will certainly never be a Zac Guildford in the way that guy puts himself around the field. But Gear does at least as much round the field as Isaia Toeava does.

It's a question of selection consistency. I feel Toeava is lucky to be there. I am not convinced he is a winger and, with Mils Muliaina and Israel Dagg there, he is not needed at fullback. He's a utility player, not a winger, and I don't think a utility is necessary in a squad of 30.

I take my hat off to the guys left behind - Liam Messam, Crockett and Gear - for fronting the media. The first two really impressed me with their attitude. They made themselves available for Waikato and Canterbury and I think that spoke volumes. about Messam and Crockett.

Gear was talking about heading off overseas, which I think is the wrong attitude. However, he made himself available for Wellington too and I have to say that all three of them have a royal chance of playing in the World Cup if injury strikes.