Tupou Vaa'i [Chiefs]

Tupou Vaa'i is arguably the biggest surprise in the squad. He's not a name many would have known when the season kicked o .

A long injury list at the Chiefs saw him called up from the building site at which he was working and he became the first choice lock in Super Rugby Aotearoa.

He's big, tough and got better as the campaign went on. Foster said there were 34 names confirmed in the All Blacks before the North versus South match and they delayed on the 35th as they wanted to see how one specific person coped in that game.

It's believed that it was Vaa'i who was under scrutiny and he obviously passed muster as he was named.