By Greg Stutchbury
AUCKLAND, June 7 (Reuters) – Steve Hansen uttered the
dreaded ‘R-word’ on Thursday when he named his first All Blacks
side for the test against Ireland on Saturday, but quickly made
it clear he was not about to revive a policy of wholesale squad
rotation.
Rotation became something of a swear word in New Zealand in
2007 when Graham Henry chose to constantly rotate players in the
team through the pool phases of the World Cup, leading to a lack
of cohesion in the quarter-final defeat to France.
At the last World Cup, Henry stuck with a core of players
and changed the side only out of necessity, a strategy that was
vindicated when Richie McCaw lifted the Webb Ellis trophy last
October.
On Thursday when Hansen named his first All Blacks side as
head coach, the former assistant to Henry said he had been
mindful of the toll a longer Super Rugby season was taking on
some of his players.
Inside centre Sonny Bill Williams and blindside flanker
Victor Vito were both named to start against Ireland, with
Hansen saying the decisions had been partially made to give
regular starter Ma’a Nonu and the versatile Adam Thomson a rest.
“It’s just a chance for us to give him a breather,” Hansen
said when asked if Nonu had been dropped. “He’s gone straight
from the World Cup to Japan and has worked all the way through
the Japanese season then came home.
“He was hoping to get a bit of a breather with the
(Auckland) Blues but they’re having the season they’re having so
he has had to jump straight back in there.
“We’ve also got a guy in the squad who’s in outstanding form
(Williams) and that allows us to say ‘let’s get you freshened up
and get you ready for the next series’.
Continued…
