Rugby: 'Crazy' if Hayman not given Cup spot

Carl Hayman. Photo / Getty Images

The All Blacks would be "mad" not to make an exception of Carl Hayman for the World Cup, the ex-Springbok who captains Hayman's new French club warned last night.

Joe van Niekerk, captain of Toulon which Hayman will join in June, insists that for the top players an exception should always be made.

And the South African thinks the New Zealand selectors would be crazy not to bring home so good a player to boost their World Cup chances.

Van Niekerk said: "If you have got a guy who is the best in the world, why not select him? What are you holding back from? Whatever league he is playing in, even if he were playing in Italy, I would select Carl Hayman.

"How good is he? Well, let's put it like this. Every time he plays he is a pillar of strength in the front row. So we regard that acquisition Toulon has made as enormous.

"The thing about the Top 14 is that scrumm-aging plays such a key part.

"So much boils down to who has the most powerful scrummagers because French referees allow more shoving and pulling of the scrum before the ball is put in. If a scrum is dominant here, that team will invariably be on top in the game."

According to van Niekerk, who has steered Toulon to the top of the French league and a guaranteed place in the play-offs and next season's Heineken Cup, Hayman will be an even better player by next May, the end of his first season in French rugby.

"When players play abroad they are gaining a massive amount of experience. Playing in a different league, playing against different opposition, you are learning every day. You are always learning something different. Just playing in a different culture gives you something else.

"That player must have something special to offer against someone who has only played his rugby in New Zealand, or in South Africa and has no knowledge of other countries and conditions.

"So I think if Carl went home now he would be regarded as even better than what he was two or three years ago.

"With the opposition Carl will come up against because of the nature of the French game, he will find quite soon he has new things in his armoury. So the All Blacks would have an even better player by the time of the World Cup."

He added: "You should always be prepared to make exceptions for the best.. "There have to be some players who are so good you make exceptions for them.

"I know what I would do and I think they'd be mad not to pick him."