Gregor Paul: All Blacks no longer convinced about Liam Squire

New Zealand All Black Flanker Liam Squire heads for the try line against the Wallabies in 2018. Photo / Greg Bowker.

There was a subtle shift in messaging from All Blacks coach Steve Hansen last week that signalled Liam Squire's presence at the World Cup shouldn't be taken as a given.

Hansen didn't go so far as to say there has been a change in thinking in their blindside pecking order, but perhaps more revealingly, he said the All Blacks haven't yet found a player who has successfully replaced Jerome Kaino.

The best way to interpret that is to conclude the All Blacks are no longer convinced that Squire is capable of being the player they need at the World Cup – which is a departure from where things were only six months ago even.

After two consecutive destructive tests against the Wallabies last year, Squire was riding high, tracking towards becoming the relentlessly physical, combative blindside flanker the All Black were looking for.

He wasn't quite Kaino, but he was getting towards being that same sort of influence and presence.

If Hansen had been asked at that time whether he felt he would have the combative and explosive player he needed in the No 6 jersey at the 2019 World Cup, the answer would have been yes.

He made that clear when he was questioned about the potential use of Scott Barrett as a blindside and after the topic was dragged into the obscure, Hansen brought things to an abrupt end by saying anyone who wanted to wear the All Blacks No 6 jersey would have to prove they were better than Squire and as far as the coach was concerned, the chasing pack weren't particularly close.

But the back half of 2018 saw Squire battle with injury and inevitably that impacted on his form. In the big tests against England and Ireland, Squire went missing in a way Kaino never would have.

All Blacks Brodie Retallick and Liam Squire arrive at the All Blacks gym session at Les Mills. Photo / Brett Phibbs.

They were bruising tests, intensely physical and demanding – exactly the sort of games in which Squire should have thrived. And yet he didn't.

It's not the All Blacks way to be openly critical but there would have been some disappointment that they didn't get more out of Squire - that he wilted in the oppressive heat of those battles.

To compound matters, Vaea Fifita delivered the best blindside performance of the season against Italy in the last test of the year.

It would be easy enough to say it was only Italy and therefore has to be judged in that context but a thumping tackle is a thumping tackle no matter the opposition and Fifita made so many in Rome that it demanded a bit of a rethink from the selectors as to where things were poised.

What's forced more of a rethink and ultimately led to Hansen saying that the position is now wide open, is Squire's decision to sign with a Japanese club after the World Cup.

Hansen has never been petulant or spiteful towards players who remain available but have pending offshore contracts.

He was willing to take Colin Slade to the World Cup in 2015 and Aaron Cruden and Charlie Faumuina both played against the Lions in 2017 before heading to France the following month.

But in 2015 when the All Blacks were inundated with back-three options, Charles Piutau missed out and it was his decision to sign with Ulster that ultimately cost him.

And last year Lima Sopoaga wasn't required for All Blacks duty before he joined Wasps.

Leaving, won't in itself have scuppered Squire's World Cup dream but it will count against him if the likes of Fifita, Shannon Frizell and Jackson Hemopo deliver quality performances that excite the selectors.

In a close-run thing, the players who have signed up to stay in New Zealand will always have the selection advantage and the problem now for Squire is that he is going to have to deliver the most compelling evidence to convince the selectors there is a discernible difference in what he's offering compared with the other contenders.

And his second problem is that if he can't unequivocally re-establish that he's the best man to start at blindside in the big games at the World Cup, then he may not even make the squad at all.

If Sam Cane recovers from his broken neck would anyone bet against the All Blacks using Ardie Savea and Scott Barrett as their loose forward bench cover in the big games?

Given Squire's experience it would be a surprise to see him discarded from the mix altogether but then again if Cruden hadn't damaged his knee in 2015, he may not have made the squad anyway as his lack of versatility would have counted against him.

Cruden needed to be seen as the starting No 10 to have made it to England and right now the same may be true of Squire to make it to Japan.

If he can't prove he's the best man to start at No 6 then he may not be going to the World Cup because as Hansen says, the selectors have some big decisions to make this year.