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Another long term All Black injury - this time it's one of the Barretts
By RugbyPass
David Havili has been called up into the All Blacks, which is just reward for a strong Super Rugby season with the champion Crusaders.
The fullback takes the place of Jordie Barrett, who has succumbed to a shoulder injury that requires surgery. The younger of the three All Black Barrett brothers is expected to miss the rest of the season.
Barrett had been expected to fill the gap left by Ben Smith, who is cutting short his season after the second Bledisloe Cup match in Dunedin for a contractually obliged break.
This leaves the All Blacks with the option of Israel Dagg returning to fullback, giving the exciting Damian McKenzie a run there, or thrusting Havili into a starting role.
Havili is also a long-distance goal kicking option, as evidenced here with a monster penalty against Auckland in last year's Mitre 10 Cup:
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Latest Comments
Lovely to see the kiwi fans disintegrate into homophobic slurs and nonsensical partizan hollering just because it's the only international sporting contest they can hope to compete in.
By far the most biased, blinkered and uneducated fans I've ever come across.
Not a single person in the country can explain the cultural significance of the haka because it's a war dance, not part of any sporting contest.
When it is confronted, teams are punished. When individuals stand against it they are vilified or nearly crippled like O'Driscol was and to this day no kiwi will acknowledge it.
I have no love for Joe at all, but it brings up the point again. Why the hell should anyone have to stand there and put up with it?
If you all love it and it means so much to you all, do it in your own time.
And if anyone has a problem, please explain it to me fluently in Maori and I'll consider your point. If you can't, get your own identity and live up to that instead of clinging onto a cultural heritage that you don't fully understand yet try to stuff down everyone else's throat.
Go to commentsHe’s arguing with Brett now….
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