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A little while after the Super
14 squads were announced, each franchise also then chose 7 players in a wider
training squad. According to
www.allblacks.com, “the players named in the wider training groups form the
back up for each of the Rebel Sport Super 14 squads…. They will train part time
with the full squads and provide injury cover.” Obviously the players in these
squads have been identified as players with potential to step up, but not quite
good enough to crack the squad this year. There are even players within these
squads who have S14 experience, such as Chris Smylie, Colin Bourke, Matt
Saunders and Glen Horton.
Bearing this in
mind, I find it absolutely staggering that although the Blues named Lachie Munro
in their wider training squad, they haven’t called him up given the injuries to
Nick Evans and Isa Nacewa. Isaia Toeava is a brilliant footballer, but is not a
first five. This has had a double impact for the Blues – not only have they been
without a specialist first five (or at least someone that has played some high
level rugby there), but they haven’t had a specialist goal kicker either.
These are two very
important and influential positions in a rugby team (in some cases obviously it
is the same person) so how the Blues can go into a match without a specialist in
either is really beyond belief. They were lucky not to lose against the
Stormers; ironically it was a pressure kick from Ben Atiga that won the game,
but they should’ve never been in that kind of position in the first place.
Nick Evans was
listed to start against the Stormers but pulled out just before the match (why
wasn’t Munro on the bench given Evans’ injury??), and whether he is fit or not
this week against the Bulls, Lachie Munro needs to at least be in the match day
22. He is a specialist first five and can kick goals. At 21 years old, there are
people who might think he is too young and inexperienced to handle the pressure
of Super 14 rugby. However, the fact that he has represented NZ in 7s and also
the NZ Colts should alone allay any of these fears. He has already been in the
Auckland NPC set up for a couple of seasons and has 20 caps to his name also.
Looking at it from
a different point of view, plenty of players have been tried at a young age and
have gone very well. Think of Richie McCaw, Daniel Carter, Joe Rokocoko, Richard
Kahui, Tanerau Latimer, Brendon Leonard, Liam Messam and this season the likes
of Sean Maitland and Kade Poki. It might be a bit unfair to compare Munro to
some of these players, but the point is Munro should not be considered too young
and inexperienced.
For the sake of
the Blues, let’s hope the management puts him in the squad this weekend.
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