1
'Two or three' mystery players on Steve Hansen's World Cup radar
By Online Editors
Any chance of the All Blacks selecting a World Cup bolter appear to alive and well as head coach Steve Hansen has admitted that "two or three" players have caught his eye during Super Rugby this year.
Speaking on Radio Sport, Hansen said that a few "young" players have impressed him as preparations continue for the World Cup in five months' time.
"I'm not going to mention names and put pressure on them but there have certainly been some people out there," Hansen said.
"[They] have also been quite obvious to most people.
"It's been good to see and now that we're getting to the business part of the season it'll be interesting to see if they can maintain that high level of performance that we've been getting from them."
Despite the ambiguity surrounding Hansen's comments, plenty of previously unheralded players have made a name for themselves in this year's edition of Super Rugby.
21-year-old Crusaders fullback Will Jordan unanimously crowned Rookie of the Year in RugbyPass' annual Super Rugby mid-season awards last week, while plenty has been made of Blues pair Tom Robinson and Ma'a Nonu.
"There are a few guys that are established All Blacks that are starting to come into some good form and a lot of young guys starting to put there hands up," he said.
"When the time comes to pick the side we'll have plenty of candidates.
"Everyone is a chance, we'll say no to nobody."
2019 Rugby World Cup City Guide - Kamaishi:
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Northampton sign legend's son to add a 'massive physical presence'
3
Ulster confirm a nine-strong leavers list that includes Dave Ewers
4
The non-Springbok Ben Tameifuna labels one of world's best scrummagers
5
Latest Comments
He’s a dominant personality. That might be both a good and bad thing in team dynamics. Certainly it ruined Smith’s first crack at 10 with Owen at 12. BTW, Bristol flatter to deceive. When things really matter, they tend to deliver less rather than more. Farrell would have been good for them
Go to commentsGot a lot of over the top abuse from Crusader fans, in particular, who thought every 7 they had was miles better. Now we will see if anyone is better? Laid his body on the line every game so finishing early makes sense. A lot of life left after rugby.
Go to comments