Hansen picks strong side for Irish showdown
Cross-code star Sonny Bill Williams was benched, and fellow centre Ryan Crotty missed out altogether as New Zealand named their team for Saturday’s Rugby World Cup quarterfinal against Ireland.
In-form Anton Lienert-Brown and Jack Goodhue got the nod for the defending champions in midfield, coach Steve Hansen saying it had been a tough proposition to sort out his centre combination.
“We’ve got 31 people available for selection. Every team you pick you look at the opposition, what you’re after, and the midfield was no different,” Hansen said on Thursday.
“You come down to having more people good enough to start than you have to leave out.
“In this case Ryan’s missed out. That doesn’t mean to say that if we’re fortunate enough to go further in the tournament that he won’t make the next team.
“But just for this game, we thought the combination of Jack, LB and Sonny was the one for us.”
Two-time World Rugby player of the year Beauden Barrett starts at fullback, with relatively inexperienced wingers George Bridge and Sevu Reece completing the back three. Richie Mo’unga is named at flyhalf, alongside regular scrumhalf Aaron Smith.
Kieran Read captains from number eight, where he lines up with Sam Cane and Ardie Savea. Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock pack down in the boiler house, with Joe Moody and Nepo Laulala propping up Codie Taylor.
“There’s a lot of energy and excitement in the team, which is normal for this stage of the tournament where the winner takes all,” said Hansen.
“We feel we’ve selected a great mixture of talent in our 23, who are in great form, and the squad includes many players who have a lot of Rugby World Cup knockout match experience.”
The All Blacks have won 28 and drawn one of their 31 previous
You come down to having more people good enough to start than you have to leave out
encounters against Ireland, dating back to 1905, but have lost two of the last three games.
“One of us will be going home but that’s just the cold, hard facts of the World Cup,” Hansen said of Saturday’s last-eight game in Tokyo.
“We’ve experienced it ourselves in 2007 and there are no guarantees we won’t experience it again.”
Hansen added: “Ireland are in a situation where they haven’t gone past the quarterfinal. They know what it’s like to go home so they’ll try their darndest not to and we’ll be the same.
“You just hope that it becomes a good game of rugby that excites the tournament and is not affected by [red and yellow] cards and at the end of it no one’s got any excuses.
“And then you have to take your fate on the chin.” –