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Levi Aumua knocking at the door for All Blacks selection
By Ned Lester
Levi Aumua has been selected as one of four midfielders travelling to Europe with the All Blacks XV in November, his selection comes off the back of strong NPC and Super Rugby seasons for Tasman and Moana Pasifika respectively.
The All Blacks XV is an All Blacks development team set to embark on their maiden tour with tests against Ireland A and the Barbarians - who will be coached by the Crusaders’ Scott Robertson.
Leon MacDonald is set to coach the All Blacks XV team but the selection duties were entirely handled by Ian Foster and his All Blacks selection panel, meaning the selected players are the men next in line for All Blacks duties should injury or ill-form find New Zealand’s current top players.
The Aotearoa Rugby Pod panel discussed Aumua’s selection as an area of particular interest due to his recent form and physical ability.
“He's something different,” Ex-Crusaders halfback Bryn Hall said. “He's a guy that brings something different to all the other midfielders that we have at the moment.”
“We've talked around Jordie and how well he played being able to get over the advantage line and Levi Aumua - whether it be NPC or even this year With Moana Pacifica - his ability to be able to beat the tackle one on one or even two to three defenders, is one of his great strengths.
“It's a win-win for the All Blacks, they get him into their All Blacks environment, he gets to play two test matches against the baabaas (barbarians) and Ireland A and if he plays well in that test match it’s a win-win for the selectors thinking ‘yep we might be able to bring him up to the next level if there are injuries.’”
Aumua celebrated his 28th birthday last week so his inclusion in the “development squad” is reflective of his All Blacks ambitions being a higher priority than other nations that he is eligible for.
Even if Aumua were selected to take the field for the All Blacks XV, it would not count as an international cap so he would be free to put his hand up for selection for the likes of Samoa according to Hall.
“He must have aspirations to want to be an All Black, he's obviously had words from the coaches to say don’t give up on the dream of being an All Black.
"The good thing about this All Blacks XV is that you don't get called as an international cap.
"It still opens the door for him to play for Samoa of Fiji with him not getting an international cap to stop him from playing for those island nations in the World Cup and in the future."
Parsons confirmed Hall's comments by sharing what he'd heard about Aumua's priorities.
“From my understanding, Levi made it very clear that he wanted to be up for selection for this team and obviously the All Blacks as well so he’s obviously motivated by that, he’s performing extremely well, (he) was player of the year for Moana Pasifika.”
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Latest Comments
The boy needs to bulk up if wants to play 10 or 11 to handle those hits, otherwise he could always make a brilliant reserve for the wings if he stays away from the stretcher.
Go to commentsIn another recent article I tried to argue for a few key concept changes for EPCR which I think could light the game up in the North.
First, I can't remember who pointed out the obvious elephant in the room (a SA'n poster?), it's a terrible time to play rugby in the NH, and especially your pinnacle tournament. It's been terrible watching with seemingly all the games I wanted to watch being in the dark, hardly able to see what was going on. The Aviva was the only stadium I saw that had lights that could handle the miserable rain. If the global appeal is there, they could do a lot better having day games.
They other primary idea I thuoght would benefit EPCR most, was more content. The Prem could do with it and the Top14 could do with something more important than their own league, so they aren't under so much pressure to sell games. The quality over quantity approach.
Trim it down to two 16 team EPCR competitions, and introduce a third for playing amongst the T2 sides, or the bottom clubs in each league should simply be working on being better during the EPCR.
Champions Cup is made up of league best 15 teams, + 1, the Challenge Cup winner. Without a reason not to, I'd distribute it evenly based on each leauge, dividing into thirds and rounded up, 6 URC 5 Top14 4 English. Each winner (all four) is #1 rank and I'd have a seeding round or two for the other 12 to determine their own brackets for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. I'd then hold a 6 game pool, home and away, with consecutive of each for those games that involve SA'n teams. Preferrably I'd have a regional thing were all SA'n teams were in the same pool but that's a bit complex for this simple idea.
That pool round further finalises the seeding for knockout round of 16. So #1 pool has essentially duked it out for finals seeding already (better venue planning), and to see who they go up against 16, 15,etc etc. Actually I think I might prefer a single pool round for seeding, and introduce the home and away for Ro16, quarters, and semis (stuffs up venue hire). General idea to produce the most competitive matches possible until the random knockout phase, and fix the random lottery of which two teams get ranked higher after pool play, and also keep the system identical for the Challenge Cup so everthing is succinct. Top T2 side promoted from last year to make 16 in Challenge Cup
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