I feel for Levi aumua. Not saying he should be there, but must be gutting to miss out on the all blacks and all blacks XV after racking up some awesome stats in super rugby, stating his allegiance to the all blacks and so also missing out on samoa and fiji squads, and quitting on moana pacifika. He will be 32 at following World Cup and probably not as powerful as he is now, so less likely to make all blacks then.
I feel for sotutu as well. I didn't think he'd make the all blacks but surprised he's not in the all blacks XV; that's gotta mean he's not going to the World Cup. I always thought he could be a specialist bench option for the all blacks, with his great ball skills coming to fore in the closing stages. But, despite all other commentators consistently saying he was playing well, I thought he had a poor super season. Pretty bad in the semi too.Akira was too.
Overall I can understand why the players who have been chosen have been chosen.
You can see they've tried to balance form with who will be good at the next level. And the comments on here show it's not an easy task - some calling for more form based selection, some for more 'capability at the next level' based selection. Just to touch on a few that others have mentioned...
Ennor has been in great form all year, and I love his distribution skills. I agree with
@Kiwiwomble that he hasn't performed at test level though. But what he has failed at at test rugby is composure and being accurate. At super level he hasn't been consistently accurate either, but he has improved markedly in this season. Plus he may be more composed now with experience. However, unless he plays the house down and is competing for a starting spot it's hard to see how we take a specialist centre to the World Cup.
I can see why they have picked McLeod. He has good vision and distribution skills , like goodhue, but is also a powerful ball runner, more than goodhue at the moment, so they see him as a better 12 - where they want to see power. I agree with
@Caitlyn Jenner though that goodhue trumps on the experience boat, and he can cover 12 and 13. It's a massive call to bring in someone inexperienced in the midfield in World Cup year though. I wouldn't say goodhue has missed his chance just yet though.
What to do about rieko? He does miraculous good things but also his play making skills are not what you'd expect from an all blacks centre.
Stevenson. Somebody said beauden is a bad defender, I don't really agree with that because he reads play pretty well on defence even if he might miss some tackles. But, still, stevenson has to be Better than beauden at the moment, deserves a chance. Hasn't always played well under pressure in the past but you have to give him a chance.
I can't see how beauden can make the 23 on form, even with telea injured.
On Clarke; agree w it h everyone that his super rugby form has been poor, but I wasn't at all surprised to see him selected. Why? He is one of our best under the high ball and that can sometimes be the most important quality in a winger at test level. Still, same point I made before: others deserve a chance. Caleb can be a fall back option.
On Ainsley:
@Kiwiwomble , I wasn't sure the ref knew what he was doing in that game against the blues, but I reckon that might have lost him his place, simply because his opposition (ofa in this case) was able to get in the right side of the ref.
More generally, we need to take risks to have a chance of winning this World Cup; no one wants to ensure an admirable close loss in the quarterfinal, they'd rather have a chance of winning even if it means we might get hammered. That means playing guys like mckenzie and stevenson.
