WORLD CUP SQUAD

Backs: Mils Muliaina (Auckland), Leon MacDonald (Canterbury), Ben Blair (Canterbury), Doug Howlett (Auckland), Joe Rokocoko (Auckland), Caleb Ralph (Canterbury), Ma'a Nonu (Wellington), Tana Umaga (Wellington), Aaron Mauger (Canterbury), Daniel Carter (Canterbury), Carlos Spencer (Auckland), Byron Kelleher (Otago), Steve Devine (Auckland), Justin Marshall (Canterbury).

Forwards: Rodney So'oialo (Wellington), Jerry Collins (Wellington), Richie McCaw (Canterbury), Marty Holah (Waikato), Daniel Braid (Auckland), Reuben Thorne (Canterbury, captain), Brad Thorn (Canterbury), Ali Williams (Auckland), Chris Jack (Canterbury), Kees Meeuws (Auckland), Greg Somerville (Canterbury), Dave Hewett (Canterbury), Carl Hoeft (Otago), Mark Hammett (Canterbury), Keven Mealamu (Auckland), Corey Flynn (Canterbury

a great team worthy of 2nd place.

NZ's never lost to England at a world cup, & they are not about to start

Daniel Braid ???

Rest is on the money

Agree ampt. I can't understand that selection at all. We have only 2 starting locks in the squad and 3 openside flankers. Did somone not tell mitchell you need 2 locks and 1 openside in a team, not the other way around. Look at this scenario, jack or williams gets injured the thursday before the final, there is no time for a replacement. That means brad thorn has to play the whole game and reuben thorne is the only possible replacement. The worst scenario without braid is that that mccaw gets injured, holah plays with so'olialo as replacement. I know which scenario I would prefer, its not even close. Brad thorne as our starting lock in the final would seriously hamper our chances.

Mitchell is an idiot. We have had trouble with our ;ine outs all year and he should have definitely gone with Maling. Wtf do we need 3 half backs and 3 hookers?

oh and 3 openside flankers? Most of the other selections look pretty good but we have to be able to compete if not dominate at all set pieces. Reuben Thorne is too short to be the 4th lock.

Yeah gotta agree. Not sure why we need 3 openside flankers for the WC. Definitely should've had a 4th lock (Maling). The big specialist guys (Jack, Wiilliams) are gonna need rests thru the tourney, and I fully expected Maling/Thorn to be used in the easier pool matches to ensure no potential injuries to Jack/Williams.

And hate to sound like a parrot but I cannot rate Ralph. Going out on a limb here but I still would've picked Cullen in the squad. Not because he's another fullback, but because IMO he one of the best utility backs we have and can easily play well in all back positions from No. 10 to 15. What does Ralph offer that Cullen doesn't?!?

Otherwise it's a good AB squad. Interesting choice about Flynn though.

I agree. Good squad, however ralph was a bad decision. Maybe Mitch knows something we dont, ah well, lets just get behind him and hope he does well *not literally*

..a solid selection..braid is a bolter but deserves his selection through a great npc last year and super 12..i think if oliver was there, maling would be there..but oliver was the last boy scout they had to ditch...

and to all the peeps who think merhts should be there....

watch the 2nd half of THAT semifinal in 1999 at the world cup...kicked all the goals....but missed all his tackles

Yeah, poor guy has lost the plot now. It is abit stupid however going into the world cup with somebody who cant kick properly. Im sorry to all those people who love Carlos and his toffee pops, but if we cant kick teh goals, we cant win the games.

braid is a good player, and opensides have a tendancy to get injured.. it's also more critcal to have a top player in that position.. locks needs to be good, but so long as you have enough line out jumpers (which we do) it's not as important

I agree with most of the points made here, but I'm still reserving my judgement of Mitchell until after the WC.

manny that was 4 years ago and if I remember France beat us through drop kicks and kicks at goal.

Mutant winning lineouts is a critical part of a rugby game. we need to be competing against the oppostions throws as it's a godd chance to get possession. England and France are particularly good in this facet of play and will put a lot of pressure on us.

Mitchell may have erred in not blooding Maling during the Tri nations or against Wales. It wouldn't have hurt to see how he performed.

But we now have 3 starting opensides but are only taking 2 starting locks. It means we can afford 2 injuries to opensides and none to the locks, that is crazy. I have no problems with braid as a player, just the balance.

Also mutant, we have had more injury problems with locks over the last few years than openside flankers so I would dispute that they are more prone to injury.

I seem to remember the last 4 lineouts against aussie, under huge pressure in the closing minutes of the bledisloe cup decider.

who took all of those?

Rueben Thorne.

Hes a solid line out option.

If u did ya research into the RWC rules u will know why they have chosen a mix of hookers and halfbacks like they have. I aint even going to start to type out why, just go and get informed.
Caleb Ralph? hes the only one I have a question mark over.....hes an ok player....but I think there are lots better.
Tana can cover wing.

Again, I say read the rules of the RWC before u slag off why Mitchell has HAD to go with this mix.
Have a look at the other teams that have been selected, u will find a very similar mix, in fact, I would be surprised if any other team does not have 3 hookers at the very least.

John has won the tri nations, the bledisloe and is rated to take the AB's to RWC victory. You wait too see what happens on the fast hard tracks in Aussie, Rokococacola and howlett and Mils will cut loose.

Damien - I do know the rules and I fully understand the reason for 3 hookers and 3 halfbacks. I'm just questioning the need for 4 players able to play openside. I agree we need 3.

I think Hore should have gone, Flynn hasnt played since may BUT he has got 6 NPC games and the AB camps to get match fit...a sold future prospect (22 yrs old)

yup, leaving Mailing out was a no brainer..... we definatly need 3 world class locks !

why wasnt someone like Flavell included, he covers loose foward and lock ??

I guess Brad Thorne is that man...which is good, we havnt seen the best this guy has got to show yet.......

Mitchell likes guys who are versatile, thats why all the backs play more than one position....(Ralph) Cullen cant play more than one position, John Hart tried that and it didnt work too well......

half back, #7 and hooker are positions only those can play ie: you need to cover those positions well incase the incumbents get hurt...


Im pretty happy with the team, its gona be a great game against England in the final....

a pretty predicable team, but i still think in the pressure cooker of world cup semi or Final, you need world cup experience, even if it's only off the bench, i.e Merhtens, Cullen & Oliver over Carter, Ralph & Flynn,

exactly Fitzy also I think Merhtens, Cullen and Olliver would cause more concern in any opposition camps as opposed to the other three.

..if the theory of can't kick goals, can't win matches is true...why did we win the tri-nations and bledisloe with mediorce goal kicking?..
..and france didn't beat the a.b.s in 99 with drop goals etc..they exposed jeff wilsons woeful defence and chipped over him and merhts..

carlos couldn't kick a dog up the arse but he can definitely ignite a backline...

dop goals got them back into the game after they were trailing the abs.

fitzy bro, those players with WC experience are all losing players.....

I think Mitchell is trying to shake the ghost of previous WC's .......
look at the Bledisoe, 99% of this years team have never played for it so theres no pre conceived thoughts of the opposition,thats a big reason they won, only 2 of them had suffered thos heartbraking last minute losses..

Imagine playing France at the WC, players like Cullen, Oliver,Mehrts have all lost to them in a WC, players like Flynn, Carter, Rocokoko have no weight on their shoulders and nothing to prove, they just play rugby.

not saying they arent good enough, I think its more mental than anything...

..i remember in 95, the all blacks were 12-1 to win that year..due to losses to england and france the previous year..and we turned in our best performance since 1987...that's because new players were injected and some old hands got dissed.....

Yeah, I agree. Go the newskool playz

thats it !! these new guys dont have that monkey on their back ! (previous WC defeats)

half of them were at high school when we were at the last WC !

I don't buy that theory at all. The 1999 team knew they should have beaten france. They will run on the field absolutely determined to never let that happen again. Who is hungrier to win, a 20 year old who didn't expect to be there or a 28 year old in their last chance at winning a world cup having suffered heart break twice in the past?

You need a mix of youth and experience to win and I think this side has erred towards youth too much. It fits in with the controlling type of coach that Mitchell appears to be. To me the worry is that the similarities to john hart in 1999 are too much. I would rather see an experienced player come in if we have injuries than an inexperienced player. We should win this world cup, I would hate to see an inexperienced player coming in for an injured one costing us the cup.

..yes yes..time for change..since 98 the all blacks have been complete shite...until this year...if the blues didn't turn it on this year....the team would be the same old hands...thank god 4 that!!

mitchell is nothing like john hart..not only is he an ex-all black, but a midweek captain to boot...you shouldn't blame hart for 99 as well...the players who complained about hart probably did the same thing to laurie mains at the highlanders this year(if you get my drift)...

experience is nothing if you only experienced losses...


and if england is our biggest threat...who better to have on our side than their ex-assistant coach??

You strike me as one of those people that believe the myth about the all blacks never losing manny.

THE ALL BLACKS NEVER LOSE! Sometimes the other team scores more points, but the All Blacks never lose.

...we've done nothing BUT lose in the last 6 years...the invincibility tag died years ago...

Ah, thought so. Well how about some reality here, the all blacks have lost in the past as often as they do now. Our winning percentage against our main opponents has not changed over the last 10 years. We have won 3 of the last 6 tri-nations. Historically the springboks have been the best team in world rugby, not us.

The fact that you don't think mehrtens was any good is another reason to ignore your comments. Sure he may not be up to it now, but talk to any real expert and they will rate mehrtens very highly.

i'm actually a big fan of merhtens...he's the greatest point scorer in all black history..even naas botha thinks he should be there..only if he's FIT...in a recent interview, naas botha thought mehrtens was unfit to play in the 99 semi as well...so i'm not out to bag him...i'm baggin' the peeps who want an UNFIT merhtens instead of spencer

...and you are right about the last ten years...to be honest i thought mains was complete shite until 95..

Agree with you on mehrtens.

Even if Merhtens wasn't at full fitness but was close to it he would be useful on the bench to come on and kick goals if we were having touble in that department. No one is saying that he should replace Carlos.

i was just interviewed by chtv about the omission of merhts and said i'm over it and lets win the world cup
he's a worthy all black, kicks pecentage wise, runs well and has the best running pass, lacks on defence sometimes but needs to be fitter
now my real concern is why can't carlos pass accurately to his right ?, look at all the recent footage and you will agree that he's either favouring an injury or has impaired vision in his right eye ? i'm not bagging him just pointing out a very obviuos point, all the blunders he makes is on the right hand side ? surely Mitch and Deans are aware of this and have tried to remedy it ?
any ideas ???

..we need a fully fit merhtens...when he kicks well usually means he's fit...and ben blair has been doing the goal kicking for canterbury...

..doug howletts on the right wing..the ball has no problem getting there...

now everyone in new zealand knows what it's like being an auckland supporter, and dealing with the rollercoaster ride called 'carlos'...trust me...it's gonna be bumpy....but we always manage to get there

Ben Blair has kicked for Canterbury even when Merhtens is playing for some time now. Merhtens will only generally kick if it's outside Blair's range but I will concede manny that Merhtens is probably not fully fit at the moment. Mind you Mitchell might have asked for Blair to do the kicking.

Blah blah blah Mitchell is an idiot blah blah blah...

Do you people actually watch rugby or just talk shit about it? Mitchell gets results. For years peopel went on and on about how coaches need to pick on form, we get one that does and everyone starts bleating about poor old completely out of form Christian Cullen and not even fit Andrew Mehrtens. We are setting the standard and playig the best rugby the world has ever seen but even that's not good enough.

...you know it bro..mitchell has the chance to be the most successful all black coach of the modern era...if he wins the world cup

..how bout anton oliver? what a fucken sour puss...he was a poor successor to fitzpatrick and his attitude on not getting picked is pathetic...(just heard interview on radio)....

you guys are all morons...

maling is a tosser, and mitchell explained EXACTLY why he didn't earn his position... he doesn't fit with how mitchell wants to play the game - and fair enough too - mitchell plays winning rugby...

braid is the next best open side in the country and thouroughly deserves his place in the team...

think about it, if one of the locks gets injured brad thorne is a great starter and one of the only players i'd rate against the strength of the english forward pack.

so we're a lock dow, thorne is a good line out option and he has shown that - he can move into lock, holah to blind side, and your problem is solved... having thorne at lock means we have the 2 best flankers in the world on the park finally - and thats what i've been wanting to see all year.

you guys remind me of the latest installment of the tui ads

"i never doubted mitchell" "yeah right"

well fuck you all! i'm with damien... and big mitch - he's the man, and the cup is coming home.

3 out of 3 cups in '03 - fuck the cynics - have some faith in NZ sport, because for once we have a coach with the right formula and the right drive to bring us some fucken gold.

go the blacks.

and p.s.

go the fucken warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:d

its an awesome team, but in reply to the comment about out of form Cullen , you must have been watching a different S12 to me and everyone else in NZ......leading try scorer and made some brilliant try saving tackles.....

now the team is doing sooo well I dont know if Cully would fit in but I still fell that he deserved higher honors.....

did anyone see Pete Samprass's farewll last night on the news ? at Flushing Meadows in NY..., well players like Cullen & Mehrtens are legends of our sport and the way Mitchell has dropped them sucks, they deserve a bit of credit for what theyve done in the black jersey !

it just doesnt seem right, those guys should retire after playing their last game for the AB's and be farewelled like the great players they are....

...farewell???...i can't remember any all black who got a huge FAREWELL after not being selected...did fitzpatrick, zinny or even kronfeld get a farewell....don't think so......a guy like pete sampras deserves it because he's a LEGEND in tennis....

true mate !

I guess its weird to not see those guys in the AB's but change is good so I guess your right there manny.......my bad!

Pete Samprass is in a different league to rugby players....

I think we will win the world cup still, I just see two areas of vulnerability, lack of experience in some areas and vulnerability to injury, especially one of the locks. Injury will expose the lack of experience.

Answer me this question then SMF, is lock a specialist position?

If so, then how come we don't have adequate cover. Mitchell clearly wants specialists to play in their position yet obviously wants a real parttimer as his backup lock. Also thorne has not come close to proving he is a good starting option.

if not then why do you think that?

...true dat..sampras won a shit load of titles...and he's got the hell babe on his arm....give it up for pistol pete...

and 'pistol pete' is a better nickname than the 'paekakariki express'

it sounds like a western story....

whats Mehrts nickname ? lamb chop or something

Correct me if I'm wrong, but none of these players got dropped did they? I thought they all retired from the ABs, with Zinny and Kronfeld chasing the $s with English club teams...

Now before anyone bites my head off, I totally agree with getting rid of the old guard with this AB team...except I'd go for Cullen over Ralph any day

Agree what ampt said !!!
Carlos is by far the best is this all black lineup, but whats up with his rightside pass ??? Doug Howlett gets his tries from Mauger or when he's drifting in around the ruck or from a Carlos kick and chase, he's got a solid left floating pass ?, obviously with the talent outside him its not a big issue but sometimes he panicks to the right and has been found out.

We will still win the WC

Id say Umaga is the best ALL ROUND player....

He is virtually a 4th loose foward !

he can kick,pass,run.....

he's the man !

on radio sport last night this guy said

"dump Umaga and make Mauger centre" WTF was he smoking ?

Mauger & Umaga are an awesom midfield !

heres the backline for the 2007 WC.......ages in brackets for 2007

9. Gibson (24)
10.Carter (25)
11.Rocokoko (24)
12.Mauger (26)
13.Nonu (25)
14.Howlett (29)
15.Mulliiana (26)

I predict we will win b2b WC's

..your forgetting players like U21 world cup winning capt..
sam tuitupou

Yeah I'm sure Tuitupou will be there in 2007. Havwen't seen any one in union hit harder than he does when he makes a tackle. The guy is fearless.

tuitupou is the reason mauger is playing the way he is...those two were the form no.12's...boy do we have depth

Good theory, but is that case why is Tana Umaga, Justin Marshall & current All Black Captain Reuben Thorne in the team then - all these guys lost to France too...

I feel alot of the problems as to why they aren't there are a fall out with them & Mitch......

It's seems to be Mitch's way or no way

that's the beauty about All Black Rugby in 4 years there's bound to be a new bunch of stars capable of winning the cup,

we have such a truck load of talent & depth

I think its a very good team that Mitchell has picked, and we have a great chance of winning the RWC for the first time in since '87.
The selections reflect the game plan that the coach wants to take in to the competition. This is why he has picked 3 open side flankers. They will be more important to Mitchell that a 3rd specialist lock, because he wants to play a running expansive game and therefore needs fast players who are quick to the breakdown and can recover loose ball.

We need to give Mitchell some credit, the guy knows what hes doing. He has never given anything away since becoming coach and its only in this years tri nations that we have begun to see how the All Blacks will play at the World Cup. Remember he was the English assistant coach, so he should have a plan to beat the bastards.

In contrast the English team has been playing the same brand of football for some time, and while it is effective, teams know what to expect and will prepare accordingly. The question is do they have any tricks up their sleeve, in my opinion NO.

GO THE ALL BLACKS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did forget Tuitopu BUT I think we should wait to see how he goes in the NPC this year before making longterm plans.........

he's a greta talent tho....

Problem with your theory screwu is that you can only have 1 openside on the field at a time. Its not like hes going to drop reuben thorne for another openside like the aussies did is it.

Tuitupou is the new Frank Bunce...for real

mitchell could play thorne at lock if williams has a shocker, not that I could see that happening

Can't see thorne playing every pool match, it will be interesting to see who gets the nod as Captain for the 2XV team

jah: the main reason i think the way i do is because i don't think the 'traditional' mould of a lock is what mitchell is after... lock is a specialist position sure - but if you look at the way the all blacks play at the moment, its all about winning rugby, and staying aggrssive while the ball is in play - not from set pieces... thats why he loves players like thorn and meeuws so much, and the exact reason he dropped oliver and picked flynn

i also think thorn is a great starting option, especially against the french and english where we will need the extra strength... he is aggressive, a ball winner and a superb scrummager - i just can't see how you don't rate him - he's got god given talent...

basically i think a team with braid is way more flexible than one with another lock... and i don't think that there are any other lock's in the country playing good enough football to get a black jumper... certainly not maling - he just doesn't fit in this talented all black side...

with braid there as cover we have the option of using the versatility of thorne and holah, as well as trying thorn as a starting lock... i don't see any trouble there!

I agree thorn is a talented player, just not a starting lock option. The problem is that if you don't have the ball then we can't win. We have lost in the past due to losing lineouts. Against the english we can't afford it, especially when they are so good at retaining possession and slowing ours down. I just hope we don't get injuries to critical players and all this becomes redundant.

I rate B.Thorne, mabey net starting but as an impact player he's the shit, look at those scrums against the saffas and aussies when we pushed them off the ball, Thorne had come on as a replacement.......

agrre on the lock thing, no one else stand out and imho I dont rate Mailing THAT high....whats he realy done ?