All Black profile: Byron Kelleher

By WYNNE GRAY

Halfback

Age: 26

Height: 1.75m

Weight: 91kg

NPC team: Otago

Super 12: Highlanders

Super 12 games: 54

Test debut: 1999

Test caps: 24

It might have been a shade unkind but it was so apt.

Byron Kelleher was bouncing around on the sideline at Jade Stadium this year waiting to run on as a substitute for his solitary All Blacks domestic appearance against France.

His lengthening hair slicked back, muscles bulging from his oh-so-tight jersey, Kelleher was likened to a bull-terrier with certain parts of his anatomy scraping the concrete.

More than ever that evening, Kelleher gave the impression of a player almost too eager to get at the game, someone who was almost a little ahead of himself.

It has been a growing perspective about the 26-year-old halfback who appears to either play by numbers or attempts to win games on his own. Finding the right balance seems to have been Kelleher's problem since he made his debut for Otago six years ago.

It may be a result of his battle with Justin Marshall for the All Black halfback job, a fight Kelleher looked like winning at the last World Cup when he was promoted for the forgettable semifinal loss to France.

Since then Kelleher has stayed as the back-up or even dropped away in the pecking order behind Steve Devine.

His game lacks some of the poise of his early career, he does not look content to distribute possession for any length of time, it is as if he has to make things happen. You wonder if Kelleher has been trying too hard.

He is the beneficiary, however, of the injury insurance policy to take three halfbacks to this World Cup where he could benefit from a decent hit-out on the hard grounds.

Devine has a persistent ankle problem and it could be a bouncing Kelleher who is regularly visible warming up on the sideline.