Selectors will say their eyes and minds are always open. They are, that's true, but the year after a World Cup is always a little different and 2020 will see a new All Blacks selection group scour Super Rugby particularly hard.
There's a number of reasons for that. Firstly, the All Blacks, like most other countries, saw a reasonable cleanout of senior personnel after the last World Cup.
Kieran Read, Ben Smith, Sonny Bill Williams, Ryan Crotty and Matt Todd who were all in Japan at the World Cup, have gone offshore. So too have Owen Franks and Jackson Hemopo who were in the test squad last year prior to the World Cup cull being made.
Others such as Liam Squire, Luke Whitelock, Nehe Milner-Skudder and Matt Proctor who were regular All Blacks or on the fringes in 2018 have also gone and of course, Brodie Retallick is unavailable this year due to his decision to have a sabbatical in Japan.
There is, then, an obvious supply and demand issue. The team has to be rebuilt to some extent and that fact alone obviously sharpens the selectors' need to be vigilant and focused throughout Super Rugby.
But there's a deeper sense of a post-World Cup year being one of significant opportunity to cast the selection net that bit wider and find the next generation of legacy players.
Think back to 2012 and the first squad of the year contained a handful of young players who were not, at that stage, particularly well known but have gone on to be the bedrock of the current side.
New caps in June that year included Retallick, Sam Cane, Beauden Barrett, Aaron Smith and Julian Savea. Later Dane Coles came into the squad and five of them remain integral to the All Blacks fortunes and probably will do so through to 2023.
Denne historien er fra Issue 204 , February - March 2020-utgaven av NZ Rugby World.
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Denne historien er fra Issue 204 , February - March 2020-utgaven av NZ Rugby World.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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The 20 Most Memorable Rugby Acts Of 2020
2020- Most Amazing Rugby Acts
RUGBY ROYALTY
FRANS STEYN’S IMPACT AT LAST YEAR’S WORLD CUP ADDED MORE PRESTIGE TO A DECORATED CAREER THAT ISN’T OVER YET. CRAIG LEWIS FROM SA RUGBY MAGAZINE REPORTS.
WINGING IT FOR LONGER
TYPICALLY POWER WINGS DON'T LAST LONG IN THE ALL BLACKS. BUT CALEB CLARKE AND RIEKO IOANE ARE HOPING TO BUCK THE TREND.
TOUGHEST JOB IN THE WORLD
NZ RUGBY WORLD EDITOR GREGOR PAUL HAS A NEW BOOK OUT CALLED THE CAPTAIN'S RUN. IN IT HE EXPLORES WHAT IT TAKES TO LEAD THE WORLD'S BEST RUGBY TEAM, HOW THE JOB HAS CHANGED AND HOW THE VARIOUS LEADERS HAVE DEALT WITH PRESSURE, FAILURE AND SUCCESS.
WOW FACTOR
SCOTT ROBERTSON IS UNORTHODOX BUT HE'S ALSO BRILLIANT AND WANTS A JOB WITH THE BRITISH & IRISH LIONS.
RUGBY REBORN
COVID BROUGHT ECONOMIC CARNAGE IN 2020 BUT RATHER THAN BEING SEEN AS A WRECKER OF FORTUNES, THE PANDEMIC WAS ACTUALLY A GIANT BLESSING.
BATTLE FOR THE BLEDISLOE
THE UNPRECEDENTED CONDITIONS OF 2020 SAW THE INTERNATIONAL CALENDAR HASTILY REDRAWN AND IN A UNIQUE TWIST FOR THE PROFESSIONAL AGE, THE ALL BLACKS PLAYED FOUR CONSECUTIVE TESTS AGAINST AUSTRALIA.
PACIFIC POWER HOUSE
FIJI HAVE NEVER QUITE BEEN ABLE TO FULFIL THEIR ENORMOUS POTENTIAL. BUT THEY MIGHT NOW FOLLOWING THE APPOINTMENT OF VERN COTTER AS HEAD COACH.
THE PEOPLE'S CHAMPION
ON AND OFF THE FIELD, SPRINGBOKS WING CHESLIN KOLBE CONTINUES TO MAKE AN INSPIRATIONAL IMPACT.
DEFENCE FORCE ONE
THE BLUES WERE A RADICALLY DIFFERENT TEAM IN 2020 AND MUCH OF THAT WAS DUE TO THEIR VASTLY IMPROVED WORK ON DEFENCE.
