Weepu lost his place in the AB squad in 07 because of his constant fitness issues and he also broke team proticol maybe even more than once. IMO it likely degraded the atmosphere in the AB's he should have been setting an example but he was dicking around, he and Troy as well. maybe the coaches thought he wasn't taking it seriously enough. And IMO the loss in 07 had nothing to do with Leonard.
If you believe what the media speculation was (and I don't), then I'm happy for you. There were others who didn't tow the behaviour line too, they didn't get dropped.
There was more to the Weepu situation than that.
The problem with Leonard is that he doesn't appear to have the ability to change the game when things aren't going right... he's a follower not a leader. YES, he clears quickly, but that isn't everything. I heard Justin Marshal at an after dinner speech tell a story about when he was a young half-back in Southland. He had a fast, long and accurate pass, but didn't do anything else; run wide or dart around the scrum, chip kick, etc, he just had this fantastic pass. His coach told him that if this was all he had, he would never be a really good half-back. Any mug can learn to clear quickly and fire long passes, but pretty soon, the opposition will work out that its all you've got, and they wont need to defend around the scrum because you are never going to run, so they will attack your 5/8 more to cut his options down. Develop a good running & kicking game as a half-back, and you keep your opponents guessing. JM took that to heart, and the result was a long career as one of the best half-backs ever to wear the Black jersey. Marshall developed additional attributes that also made him like a 4th loose forward.
What the quarter final needed was a
leader at No. 9 who could see the French were always offside, and who realised the referee was blind to it and wasn't pinging them for it. In that second half, Leonard didn't once chip the referee and tell him the French backs were offside. I can just imagine what Weepu or Cowan would have done, picked up the ball and made sure they ran straight onto an offside froggie at the ruck while yelling
"C'mon ref! He's offside".
I'm actually wondering which role the media has played on the selection of SBW? He 's a good player and he proved his skills in the ITM. But still, isn't it too early for him to earn his cap?
Richie McCaw earned his first All Black test cap (v Ireland in 2001) before his 21st birthday, before he ever played Super 12 rugby, and only a year after his provincial debut for Canterbury against North Harbour in 2000. In 2004 he captained the All Blacks for the first time, against Wales, at the age of 23, within two years of his test debut, and four years of his Provincial debut!! How often has that happened, I wonder??
Some players are just exceptional, and fast tracking them ahead of other more senior players is the best thing to do. I'm not saying this necessarily applies to SBW, just that there is no hard and fast rule about how long a player has to "wait" for the jersey.
I think his addition to the squad is aimed at getting him some time with international standard coaches, and the culture that comes with that, and see how much he improves going forward. I'd be suprised if he was involved in anything other than the midweek games unless he has a blinder in one of those games, allah Quade Cooper.
I'd be suprised if he
was involved in midweek games, because there aren't any for the AB's.
I'm picking he'll be on the bench against Australia (replace Nonu in the second half), and he'll start against Scotland.
Ted and Co don't have many real opportunities to find out if he is the real deal between now and RWC2011, and we don't want to be trying him out in one of only four 3N matches next year.
