Rugby: Feeling the heat

Daniel Braid has barely been seen this season. Photo / NZ Herald

History is littered with unlucky men who played their way out of World Cup contention in the home stretch.

Gregor Paul looks at those who may join this unfortunate club in 2011, with a handful of players who toured the UK with the All Blacks last year likely to be feeling the squeeze.

There is a special kind of agony felt by those who get so close. The pain of being an All Black regular, a virtual World Cup certainty, then coming up short carries an element of humiliation. To be dumped two years out hurts.

To be dumped two weeks out hurts much more.

There will be more men than usual feeling that unique pain this year as several players, regularly involved with the All Blacks last year, won't be this year. Of the men who toured the UK in November, Daniel Braid, Joe Rokocoko, John Afoa, Alby Mathewson, Tom Donnelly, Liam Messam and Cory Jane are the most vulnerable.

Braid, back-up for Richie McCaw on the 2010 Grand Slam tour, is shaping as the first casualty. He was in pole position leading into 2011, but has stalled on the grid. There is time yet for Braid to salvage his place but seven weeks into the season, he has barely been seen. He doesn't have the pedigree nor security not to worry about the last seven weeks.

His credentials needed to be reaffirmed; his case made unambiguously. Instead, he tiptoed into the season before incurring a neck injury that has sidelined him for the last few weeks.

While he has been recuperating, Adam Thomson has been unleashing the dogs of war. Even Graham Henry, so reluctant normally to dole out praise publicly, was moved to point out that Thomson had been seriously impressive.

Similar thoughts have no doubt been swilling through the All Black coach's mind about Crusaders openside Matt Todd. The 23-year-old has followed his impressive ITM Cup with an equally eye-catching start to Super Rugby.

Todd is a ball carrier and an engine, exactly the sorts of qualities that help test sides go forward and win games. His is a portfolio to which the man in the stand can relate - he buzzes about, takes the ball into space and sends defensive lines scuttling backwards. Not to mention his lawnmower tackling.

Braid, on the other hand, is all about continuity - subtle touches and defensive organisation. It's harder to appreciate his contribution and even harder to see how Braid will retain his All Black place for the World Cup squad.

Braid's pain at missing out, should he fail to make the cut, will possibly not be as intense as some of the other casualties.

Braid's position has never been secure, unlike that of Cory Jane, who has been an All Black regular since 2008. Jane has been outstanding since making his debut and in 2009 was one of the few shining lights.

He has an incredible ability to make the impossible happen and play above his weight.

But there were signs at the end of last year that his position was under threat. He wasn't selected, possibly unfairly, for the final Grand Slam test against Wales and the more this season takes shape, the more the pressure is piling on Jane.

Israel Dagg and Isaia Toeava have been in cracking form. They are the two form fullbacks - and both can play wing. Jane has been part of a struggling Hurricanes side and was strangely awful against the Rebels, unable to get even the simple things right. It was uncharacteristic and indicative perhaps of the pressure he might be feeling.

He'll be aware of what it feels like to have a World Cup place all but sealed, only to then blow it in the last few months. Jane's team-mate Ma'a Nonu famously played his way out of the All Black squad for the 2007World Cup. Nonu had been their preferred second five at the end of 2006, earning the starting spot for the second test against France. His power had finally found a natural home in the No 12 jersey. But his form was appalling in 2007 and the selectors had no choice but to drop him.

It was a gut-wrenching blow that damaged Nonu emotionally. In the wake of his exclusion, he talked about defecting to league while on a trip to Australia.

"I played a bit of league back in school but it is not big over there [New Zealand]. I will have to see how it goes back home. I am contracted to the All Blacks until next year but I am willing to talk to [NRL] clubs.

"I watch a lot of rugby league and really love the game. Over the past couple of days, I have met some of the superstars I watch on TV. It has been awesome."

Nonu has latterly admitted to being hurt and frustrated when he made those comments, emotions entirely similar to those felt by Piri Weepu, who was also cut from the World Cup squad having been an All Black regular.

Weepu's omission was a bigger shock, as the halfback had been one of the 22 men asked to step out of the early rounds of Super Rugby to recondition. There was a belief, erroneous as it turned out, that those hand-picked not to play were guaranteed World Cup places.

Weepu, too, talked of defecting to league, of heading offshore, of giving it all up. Like Nonu, though, he worked through the initial pain to absorb the reasons for his omission and do something about them.

To come back took enormous depth of character. It's not just about dealing with a bruised ego - there is the sadness of missing out on a career-defining adventure; an event that comes around only every four years.

Anton Oliver was another to be damaged by his World Cup omission. Selected for the June tests in 2003, he was then dropped for the Tri Nations and had to deal with seeing the uncapped Corey Flynn called in as the third hooker for the World Cup.

Regan King was another who, with a bit of luck, should have been an All Black in 2003. His smooth running formin 2002 earned him his first cap and he scored the last All Black try of that year. He looked the obvious back-up for Tana Umaga coming into 2003 but couldn't shake a nasty groin injury and saw his opportunity slip by. Touted as the future in late 2002, King was very much the past nine months later - never playing another test and heading offshore in 2004.

Shane Howarth and Arran Pene were the men who came up short in 1995. Howarth broke into the All Black team in 1994 but, by his own admission, took it all for granted and didn't reach the required level of fitness. Pene looked a good back-up to Zinzan Brooke but Laurie Mains opted instead to select Kevin Schuler, who had been playing in Japan.

Kieran Crowley was the unlucky man in 1991. The regular fullback was suddenly unwanted for the World Cup when the selectors decided Terry Wright was better suited.

No one, though, did it tougher than Brent Anderson in 1987. The big Waikato lock was a probable coming

in to the national trials in Whangarei. He had one hand on the jersey but that was prised off 80 minutes later.

The squad was announced live on TV that year from the post-trial function and Anderson missed out to Albert Anderson.

His humiliation was public; his grief on full display. There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to sneak off to and scream with anger. Instead he had to smile, congratulate his team-mates and make like he was over the moon for them.

"I thought I'd had a reasonable trial," he says. "And I thought I had gone OK playing for the Barbarians on our tour of the UK before that. I think it was pretty obvious that it was going to come down to either me or Albert. When the names were first read out, my immediate reaction was that they had read the wrong one - that they had got the first names muddled up.

"I didn't really know Bert so I don't think I went over to congratulate him but I made sure that I said well done to Zinzan Brooke and Bernie McCahill, who I think were both named as All Blacks for the first time and guys who I had gotten to know on the tour."

Anderson went through a difficult few days but he bounced back, just as Nonu and Weepu did and just as the unlucky men of 2011 most likely will as well.