ABs camps costing NZ Rugby: Hansen

Steve Hansen will hope to appease Super Rugby coaches when he breaks new ground by naming his All Blacks squad earlier than expected.

Rather than wait until after the final round of Super Rugby on May

25-27, prior to the competition going to hiatus for the June test window, the national selectors will take the unusual step of naming a

32-man All Blacks squad prior to the two three-day ‘‘preparation’’ camps on May 20-22 and May 27-29. The All Blacks play France in three tests in June.

All Blacks coach Hansen, who ran a ‘‘foundation day’’ for 19 All Blacks from the Crusaders and Highlanders (minus the injured Sam Whitelock, Ryan Crotty and Tim Perry) in Christchurch yesterday, said the decision to name his official squad on May 20 was a way of limiting the disruption for the five Super Rugby teams.

Rather than ask fringe players who will not be involved in the series against France - to attend the camps, Hansen will bite the bullet and only invite official squad members.

This, he said, should provide clarity for everyone - but at a cost for NZ Rugby.

‘‘Everyone has to take a hit. The rugby union (NZ Rugby) itself has to take one, and by that I mean with the three-day camps we are going to name the All Blacks early,’’ Hansen said.

‘‘And therefore they (NZ Rugby) will have to pay for them to be assembled, and so forth. We didn’t want to take 50 players out of Super Rugby at that point, it just wouldn’t have worked; so we are just taking those that are going to be in the squad.’’

This new plan isn’t without its flaws. Having named their squad, Hansen and his fellow selectors must wait to see whether their All Blacks survive the final two rounds of Super Rugby prior to the June matches against the French.

‘‘It does [make it harder for the selectors], it gives you the high risk of naming somebody who then gets injured in one of the derbies that follow over the next couple of weeks,’’ he said.

‘‘There’s always a downside ... the downside of that is the NZ Rugby Union have to pay for that player and then they have to pay for another one. That’s the price they are paying for this whole thing.’’

The foundation days - of which another will held in Christchurch next Monday and two more are scheduled for the North Island players - and the two preparation camps have not been welcomed by the Super Rugby coaches.

For the Crusaders and Highlanders to sit in a meeting room and go through some light runs together on Monday, just days before they meet in a South Island derby match in Dunedin on Saturday night, isn’t ideal.

Hansen said everyone was having to make sacrifices. With Super Rugby beginning a week later, preparation time to face France was limited.

‘‘As I said, everyone is having to make adjustments. Do we all want it to be like this? No we don’t it. But it is the way it is. So we get on with it, work as best we can together and do what’s right for the players.’’

The ‘‘foundation’’ days are designed to review the players on what they did last year, and what is required to improve in the season ahead.

The most notable absentees from the group that gathered at the Christchurch rugby club were Highlanders first five-eighth Lima Sopoaga and Crusaders wing/centre Seta Tamanivalu. Both have declared they will join northern hemisphere clubs later this year.

Although Hansen said the door was not closed on Sopoaga, the back-up to Beauden Barrett on the northern tour after Aaron Cruden left for France last year, it is highly likely his days in the All Blacks jersey are numbered. Richie Mo’unga and Damian McKenzie are in a race to be Barrett’s deputy.