All Blacks: Dagg's Cup ambitions on the line

Competition for places in back three heating up with versatility value key issue

Having not played on the wing since 2009, Colin Slade will inevitably be nervous at Murrayfield tomorrow morning. But there will be others in the squad, the likes of Beauden Barrett, Israel Dagg and Charles Piutau, who will be more nervous.

And they will be more nervous because Slade has a chance to push himself into the Rugby World Cup frame. As in really push himself because his utility value, especially as it comes with superb goal-kicking, is going to be hard to leave at home next year when the All Blacks take 31 players to the World Cup.

Most nervous should be Dagg. His case for inclusion in a World Cup squad is not compelling. In his favour is that booming right boot; his bravery and accuracy under the high ball and his experience.

But, to some extent, the latter two are not much more than table stakes. Aerial skills are a pre-requisite for all players chosen in the back three and even Julian Savea, once nervous and inconsistent as a kick receiver, is rock solid these days.

The All Blacks have oodles of outside backs who are competent in the core skills. The selection bar is therefore set higher in the back three: it's about the extras ... about finding players who can deliver beyond the expected.

They have two of those in Ben Smith and Savea who bring the All Blacks' attacking game to life.

Cory Jane is another who, while lacking the size and power of others, continues to be one of the best finishers in the business. He only needs about six inches of space to work miracles and All Black coach Steve Hansen dropped a big hint in Chicago that Jane, despite having been forced home with injury, remains firmly in their World Cup plans.

So what about Dagg? A virtual permanent fixture at fullback since 2011 and yet not too much attacking genius in that period.

Flashes and reminders yes, consistently good games as a counter-attacking influence and strike runner ... no. The confident young man who dazzled in his early tests and stormed his way into the No15 jersey, hasn't been seen for an age.

Then there was England's opening try last week: Dagg ushered Jonny May into the right place but the tackle never came and while it wouldn't be fair to say Dagg is a defensive liability, he's not the best one-on-one.

It was an incident that added another pixel to a picture that is forming: that Dagg is a good player rather than a great player. It added just a fraction more to this feeling that Dagg isn't doing quite enough, or at least there are others doing more.

The biggest concern of all, however, is that in the games when the All Blacks have been put under the most pressure, Dagg has been poor. He was subbed against England in 2012; Ireland in 2013 and England again this year in the opening test when he had a night to forget.

He's under pressure and how much could become clear this week in Cardiff. The expectation is that the All Blacks will pick their form team for Wales - reward those who have delivered. If Savea and Piutau are on the wings and Smith at fullback, it wouldn't be a surprise.

That wouldn't be terminal for Dagg's World Cup ambitions, but would let him know that with just six tests after Edinburgh left until the World Cup, competition for places is fierce and Slade may be the wild card.

"Colin can play on the wing, he can play fullback and five-eighths so it gives us ability to have someone fit in pretty seamlessly and do the job we want and if we go to the World Cup, we need to be able to have players like that," says Hansen.

"There are only 31 spots so you have got to have someone with reasonable utility value and he offers that. It's a bonus he can goal-kick and he's kicking well, it is an advantage to him

"Can he genuinely start a test match on the wing? If he can do that, we know he can at fullback and we know he's pretty good at first-five and we know he's a pretty good goal-kicker, we know at a pinch he could come on at halfback and that gives a genuine challenge to someone like Beauden Barrett who is a utility player as well for the World Cup."

Barrett may have been name checked but he's probably a red herring. He is so good off the bench, that it's just not feasible to imagine the All Blacks leaving Barrett behind next year.

Not with Dan Carter's injury history and not given what happened at No10 in 2011 when the All Blacks saw their top three ruled out of the tournament.

"There are four five-eighths and we can only take two, maybe three at a pinch so they are all in a tussle," says Hansen.

"It is not just about Beauden and Colin. It is about finding out what we have in this team and saying, 'right ho, how do we go about this at the World Cup' because we know if we lose somebody for a week or two weeks and we replace them, then we lose them for the whole tournament.

"It's a team that has to be picked reasonably smartly because there are so many variables that can happen within the tournament. If you have got utilities it becomes handy. I wouldn't say they [Barrett and Slade] are in direct competition but they are in competition."