So it's a master plan that explains why a journey man like Luke Whitelock gets picked ahead of one of the exciting players in world rugby today?
It would have been handy to have had Akira Ioane at the back of the All Blacks scrum with 5 minutes to go against the Boks in Wellington to say the least.
Akira Ioane was absolutely outstanding in this game. An intimidating beast in the Lomu or Kaino mould.
Steve Hansen should hope his All Blacks win every game this year because if they don't he is going to cop all manner of flak for not picking one of the best players in the world right now.
Looking at that England squad, the forwards are a bit mediocre and green, but the backline looks fantastic. Normally it's the other way around with them.
A tough and unusual test coming for the All Blacks against England on 10 November.
The All Blacks selectors overlooked a few of the Tasman guys who have been in great form: Makalio, Parkinson, Hunt and Jordan. I expect them all to be fired up for the Semi Final and keen to make a point to the selectors
Terrible news. Thoughts and prayers with Nasi, his family and his doctors. They have challenging days ahead.
We lose a lot of brilliant and unique people to cancer each year. I'll be glad if Nasi makes a recovery, but not everyone is lucky.
There have been massive advances in cancer care in the last 25 years and there will be more in the next 25 years. Any money that can be raised for cancer research charities is going to a very good cause. Giving families and individuals hope where only a few years ago, there would have been none.
England are missing a lot of back row players through injury. It looks like we will see Brad Shields against the All Blacks.
@stargazer That's commitment. Doing a Buck as it's called in the trade.
No Will Jordan, but I suspect it's a case of not yet and George Bridge having a more rounded game at the moment.
No Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen. Other props with much less experience picked ahead of him. Is he injured or was he one of Akira's drinking buddies?