Tuesday, 5 June 2012

Piri Weepu- Why is he in?


When Steve Hansen selected the under performing Piri Weepu over Andy Ellis in his first All Black squad as head coach I'm not so sure he was expecting this amount of criticism. Here are some quick points from me surrounding Weepu's selection:

  • First of all, I want to put it out there that I'm not a Steve Hansen supporter. I didn't like his appointment as the man to replace Graham Henry when it was first announced and I still don't like it. How about a coach with a pulse or a smile for a change, NZRU? We won the World Cup last year but I guarantee if we play the same way twice we will lose the next one. Fresh eyes and ideas are needed for the All Blacks to succeed, which brings me on my next point:
  • I believe the All Blacks need to move on from old players who aren't performing when there is fresh talent coming through. The World Cup is over, we won, yeah us! Lets just spend a moment basking in that. Ok, time to move on.  Now it's time to start building for the next World Cup. This should include a mixture of veterans and newbies but they should all have one thing in common, they should be in form.
  • Piri Weepu is not fit(literally) to be an All Black and he certainly does not deserve to be one due to his on-the-field record this season. To be honest, he is just getting over the classic post-winning World Cup hangover, gaining at least 10kg and coming into the Super 15 out of shape. He's contributed solely mediocrity to the worst Blues team in its history and has been outplayed by ALL his contemporaries in other NZ Super 15 franchises. Yet he still gets picked ahead of Andy Ellis, who has, after a slow start, been the best halfback in the country. My only conclusion is that Weepu has something on Hansen which forced his hand. Any keen rugby supporter can see he certainly doesn't deserve to be there by merit.
  • Picking an All Black on previous merit is not new, Ali Williams is another example of this. The problem I have is with selecting players who I feel have their best days behind them. Weepu's best days are behind him, I believe, I will be amazed if he is still playing in New Zealand let alone playing for the All Blacks in four years time. Hansen and the All Black selection committee should know that- so why add Weepu? Why add him when you know he isn't part of the future and there is another AB veteran who is playing better than him right now who can show the new kids the ropes?
What do you guys think? Leave your comments below.

2 comments:

  1. coaches have picked players on merit for years, think of zin zan brooke who in his twilight years got picked on merit after poor NPC campaigns, players stand up in the black jersey. Last year NZ could get enough of piri, if piri stands up in these tests watch how quickly people jump back on the bandwagon. you gotta feel for ellis, but you get the feeling his form is magnified by being surrounded by absolute class players inside and outside him.

    I agree with you view on hansen, he;s lethargic and generally doesnt look like an internaitonal coach, I dont think he will last long

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    1. I agree that AB coaches have been adding players on merit for a long time, but should it continue is my question Michael? I don't think he is going to make a come back to the good old days as well. If he plays in the Tri Nations I feel he will be exposed by younger-faster opposition like Genia. Time will tell I guess

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