Membership full at hard-luck club

If the All Blacks opened up their selection meetings they could sell tickets and take it on a nationwide tour. There would be no shortage of Dunedinites and Hamiltonians keen to hear the discussions and insist the Highlanders and Chiefs are egregiously underrepresented.

It is one of the beauties of this country and will never change.

However, this year, the number of All Blacks candidates seems particularly high: there is heat going on the selectors as they weigh up the Rugby Championship squad.

Consider the following list of players: George Bridge, Solomon Alaimalo, Rob Thompson,

Jordan

Taufua,

Shannon

Frizell, Brad

Weber and

Bryn Hall.

The first George Bridge trio of those players would have genuine claims to be nominated for the New

Zealand Super

Rugby player of the year Solomon Alaimalo award.

Their form has been consistent. Indeed, in the case of Bridge and Alaimalo they might have even gone up a gear since the June break.

Bridge and Alaimalo were both mentioned as possibles for the June series but they didn’t drop their bottom lips when their names weren’t called out.

Bridge’s big front-on shot on Jerome Kaino last weekend would have delighted the men who matter. Plus, he has scored five tries in his past two games. He’s doing everything right. Alaimalo can be put in the same category. Jordie Barrett is a tremendous talent and has won over the selectors with his range of talents but if you were to compare the two purely on form Alaimalo would win that race.

Thompson has shown a better kicking game than probably any other midfielder in New Zealand.

His partnership with Teihorangi Walden has been one of the highlights of the year, and Thompson has a great ability to take moderate quality ball and still make hard metres.

Weber and Hall are interesting cases. The All Blacks went for Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi in June and have a track record of picking and sticking but Tahuriorangi has barely played any footy in the past month and Weber was excellent against the Hurricanes last week.

He appears to have lost none of his pace despite a serious leg injury last year. If Aaron Smith was to get injured would there be a better halfback in New Zealand to replace him to play the sort of up-tempo game the All Blacks want?

Hall has been the quiet achiever among the country’s halfbacks.

It is true that he is playing behind a

wonderful Jordan Taufua pack but his

passing looks better, his kicking has been accurate and his running lines are excellent.

As for Shannon Frizell Taufua, he

slipped effortlessly back into the No 6 jersey against the Blues and continues to impress with his work-rate. One underrated part of his game is his work over the ball: he is excellent in this area, powerful and hard to shift.

Yet for all the attributes of the players listed above, it may be that only one or two make the cut.

Frizell could be in the handiest position. He made a decent start to his test career with a debut against France that was laced with promising moments and some neat play with Liam Squire against the Rebels last weekend was key to the Highlanders releasing Waisake Naholo for his try down the right wing.

Such is the lot of All Blacks selectors. Good players are going to miss out. This year, the hardluck club is going to be packed.