Start with Crotty and

In the latest of Stuff’s series buildup to the naming of the All Blacks team for the Rugby Championship, Walter Little discusses the midfield with Aaron Goile.

Ngani Laumape should get the nod at second five-eighth in the absence of the injured Sonny Bill Williams, if Walter Little had his way.

One of the country’s premium No 12s, Little played 50 tests from 1990-98. Two decades on, he certainly marvels at the depth in the current-day crop.

The selectors could have carried four midfielders in their squad for the four-nation series, as they did last year; but with news this week that Williams will miss the opening two tests – against the Wallabies in Sydney and Auckland – surely all five who were picked for June’s French series will remain.

Blatant nepotism aside, with Little’s son Michael having a fine season with the Sunwolves, it’s Ryan Crotty who is his go-to guy, his No 1 choice in the country. He believes you select him first and build around him, with the 37-test 30-year-old’s ability to play both second-five and centre.

Little’s preferred partnership is Williams-Crotty, but with the former still recovering from the injury sustained against France in Dunedin on June 23, he’d like to see Laumape used.

‘‘I’d probably start Laumape at 12 and Crotty at centre, and just see how that combination works, in the whole environment,’’ Little said of a partnership which has only paired in black in the final 20 or so minutes of the ugly second test against France in Wellington.

In that series, for the first two fixtures Crotty was at 12 and Anton Lienert-Brown at 13, with Laumape on the bench, while in