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Nice write up on the squad announcement Tim. Biggest bolter by far for me is Luke Whitelock. I hope they don’t do an Isaia Toeava on him and bring him through too fast. I’m pleased for Sam Cane, but there’s a reason he’s not starting number 7 for the Chiefs – Latimer is playing better. Not sure what Todd has done to get overtaken by Cane – maybe they just want to have a look at the new kid.

With Kahui out I hope they consider replacing him with Taylor – who up until this season played on the wing. They need to reward that sort of blistering form. Speaking of Kahui, you can’t help but feel sorry for the guy. He deserves better than a third shoulder surgery. He would have been starting on the wing for sure.

I appreciate that they want to have a close look at some of these new kids, but it shouldn’t at the expense of players like Liam Messam, Cory Flynn, Hika Elliot, Andre Taylor, who warrant selection but the selectors feel they already know enough about them. This will only serve to drive these players overseas.

Exactly, which is why I don’t really understand someone like Ali Williams getting selected into the All Blacks for his experience and leadership, when he clearly isn’t using those qualities in the Blues.

Team culture and pride has long been an issue for the Blues. It’s indicative of the fan base and location in a big city, which tends to breed more apathy. Walk through Auckland city and count the Blues jerseys compared to walking through other franchise centres and counting their team’s jerseys. I respect that Auckland can still get 10,000 to a bottom of the table clash. However, those numbers aside its natural that this apathy and lack of team pride in some way seeps into the team itself. These players have either grown up with it, or are imports anyway.

No he wasn’t. At least not at the same rate Hansen seems to be!!

Anyway the problem Auckland has is not necessarily lack of talent. It seems to be that they can’t build a real culture within the organisation. Sometimes I watch the Blues on defence and I wonder if they really care. Look around the fringes of the ruck and they are awful. Where is the leadership?

Hi Philip. Yes, it does seem to have to have switched to strong Canterbury, strong NZ. Even though it’s always a little satisfying to see an underdog step up and take out the big guy, and even though the Crusaders loss to the Rebels was a good thing for fans of other NZ franchises, it was scary to see a team with so many important All Blacks beaten by one of the worst teams in the tournament.

Yes, you’re right, it would have been Rene Ranger the last Blues player capped (2010). Benson Stanley would have been the last Auckland player (also 2010). It’s disappointing, but maybe it’s a misleading stat? Henry wasn;t capping many new players since then leading into the World Cup right?

Intersting article. It seems that the mantra has now changed to strong cantebury, stong nz.

Auckland still has a wealth of talent but I think one of the problems too has been that the wealth has been seized upon by Australian rugby league teams. That talent used to be utilised by Auckland and the Blues and now they are losing out. Quite simply, the board are way behind the ball, and should be adjusting accordingly.

@Mike. The point you made about Benson Stanley being the last Blues player to be selected for the All Blacks is quite astonishing. I would query that maybe Rene Ranger has been picked since then but that’s just a guess??