The injured All Blacks midfield pairing of Luke McAlister and Conrad Smith will miss the rest of the Tri-Nations series.
Flyhalf Dan Carter will return to play for the All Blacks against the Wallabies on Saturday, after a nine month injury layoff.
All Black coach Graham Henry is planning to stick with experienced players for next month’s Tests against Ireland and England despite the defection of some high profile candidates overseas. Henry also backed the New Zealand Rugby Union’s policy of picking only domestically-based players for the All Blacks.
Star All Blacks flyhalf Dan Carter was Saturday staying quiet about a reported deal with French giants Toulouse that would make him the world’s highest-paid rugby player. Britain’s Daily Mail reported on Thursday that Carter would sign a £750 000 deal for one season with Toulouse, although the club has denied they are about to sign the 26-year-old.
Lack of game time, weak opposition and poor refereeing were all to blame for the All Blacks’ failure to win the Rugby World Cup last year, according to an independent review released on Thursday. The 47-page review detailed a catalogue of reasons why the team failed to live up to their billing as the world’s best.
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/ 7 December 2007
Outgoing International Rugby Board (IRB) chairperson Syd Millar believes foreign invasions will have a damaging effect on European domestic rugby. Several World Cup stars — including All Blacks Chris Jack, Aaron Mauger, Carl Hayman and Luke McAlister, plus Springbok flyhalf Butch James — have arrived in the Premiership.
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/ 15 November 2007
The All Blacks coaches have blamed English referee Wayne Barnes for their World Cup failure, it was reported on Thursday as the New Zealand Rugby Union deliberated on the future of the coaching panel. Head coach Graham Henry and his assistants Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith have maintained a diplomatic silence about Barnes’ performance in the World Cup quarterfinal.
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/ 26 October 2007
The World Cup last week then the EDF Energy Cup this? Not quite, but Butch James will barely have time for the Springboks’ victory tour of South Africa before he is back on a plane heading for Europe. After signing a two-year contract with Bath this summer, the flyhalf is expected to be in the squad when the Heineken and European Challenge cups start on November 9.
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France upset the odds in dramatic style to come from behind and beat tournament favourites New Zealand 20-18 in the World Cup quarterfinal at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday. For the All Blacks, 13-0 up as early as the 30th minute, defeat was arguably as devastating as their equally unexpected 43-31 loss to France in the 1999 World Cup semifinal at Twickenham.
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/ 29 September 2007
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New Zealand finished the World Cup pool stage in style with a spectacular demonstration of running and passing to demolish Romania 85-8 on Saturday. The All Blacks racked up 13 tries, three coming from flying winger Joe Rokocoko, as they blew away their opponents with some dazzling rugby to the delight of the packed crowd at the Stade Toulouse.
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/ 8 September 2007
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Hot tournament favourites New Zealand got their World Cup campaign off to the ideal start at the Stade Velodrome with a scintillating 76-14 rout of rivals Italy. The contest was dead and buried after the first 20 breathless minutes, during which the All Blacks scored five converted tries against an Italian team shown up to be woefully inept in their early defensive alignment.
Club rugby in the northern hemisphere has long been derided as the poor cousin in world rugby. But the post-World Cup exodus of a raft of top-flight internationals from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa will help confound that long-standing belief.