Gregor Paul: Wildcard may be answer

Even if he is not named in the 32-man All Black squad today, Waikato halfback Brendon Leonard can take solace that he came mighty close.

There have been rumblings for the past few weeks that Leonard has nudged himself into contention.

The selectors are taking three halfbacks to Europe and two of those places will be filled by Byron Kelleher and Piri Weepu.

Jimmy Cowan was the third choice during the Tri Nations but the Southland man provided heavy doses of stoicism without any softer touches to vary his impact. Besides, he was probably only there because Canterbury's Andy Ellis picked up a nasty knee injury in the Super 14 semifinal.

Ellis had been the form New Zealand halfback before being injured. His game was built on variety, a rarity in these days where it seems halfbacks build their game around just one facet.

But his Super 14 work turned out to be a tease as the sniping runs, clever kicking game and bruising defence didn't get such a prominent airing during the provincial championship. There was a real opportunity for Ellis to push on and demand inclusion - reclaim a jersey that was destined to be his. That opportunity wasn't taken behind a faltering Canterbury pack, leaving the door open for someone else to make a late run.

That someone has been Leonard, the 21-year-old of whom no one had heard before this season.

Leonard has not necessarily made so much noise that he can't be ignored. What he has done is show enough promise to suggest that, if he is taken into the All Black environment now, he could potentially be a high quality halfback by the World Cup.

That would put him into the special project category - alongside Isaia Toeava. Last year Toeava was selected on the back of just one NPC start. The selectors, however, had seen enough to believe that they could fast-track the youngster and turn him into a superstar by 2007.

They took the view that the fast-tracking would mean playing him in tests and keeping him in-house to supervise his training load. At just 19, Toeava had no hard training behind him and his work in the gym was deemed just as important as what he achieved on the pitch.

Toeava made an inauspicious start, looked out of his depth and overwhelmed by test football. In recent weeks, though, signs of the diamond lurking within began to shine through and the All Black selectors had their appetite whetted to take on more special projects.

We will know today whether that appetite was whetted enough to include Leonard. It will, at least, have been one of the more lengthy debates as there are legitimate grounds for the selectors to try a wildcard halfback.

Kelleher and Weepu appear secure in their berths, but neither would really be in the same privileged position if they were eligible for any other country ranked in the top 10.

Maybe England and Ireland would need them, but Wales, Scotland, France, South Africa, France and Australia wouldn't see either Kelleher or Weepu as any better than what they already have.

For a team moving so many mountains to win the World Cup, the lack of a world-class halfback remains a concern.

And that concern was a driver in pushing for the extension to 32 players that means an additional halfback and hooker will travel. The third halfback will not be there to prevent Weepu and Kelleher having to be in the 22 for four consecutive weeks.

The third halfback will be there to see if he can push ahead of Kelleher and Weepu and give New Zealand a snappier presence around the base.

That could be Leonard.

He has a nose for space and the acceleration to make it work. At times this season, he has looked the best option by some distance.

Or maybe Ellis is the man to turn to, after all, the Cantabrian has done the business at Super 14, a step much closer to test rugby. Retaining Cowan would be a conservative move and would essentially send the message that the pecking order for halfbacks is now set in stone.

This panel doesn't often do conservative so there has to be a big chance that Leonard will be named as a new All Black.