Tamati and Corey stake claim for full honours

Junior All Blacks 38 Tonga 10

In these days of plenty, when All Black jerseys almost seem to be handed out to passers-by, there may be a growing case for the NZRU tailors to think about measuring up Tamati Ellison.

With the All Black midfield still undecided and still subject - in spite of all the rotation and depth-building - to the threat of injury, Ellison could yet be a contender.

In recent Super 14 and Juniors matches, the Hurricanes man has shown a growing ability on the pass. In fact, his silky distribution could be rated as not far behind that of Aaron Mauger and Conrad Smith, when fit.

These skills were most evident when the Juniors ran in their first try against Tonga last night to centre Anthony Tuitavake, who had a powerful match. Ellison's beautifully weighted and delayed pass turned a mere attack into a touchdown. He also showed kicking skills and good scrambling defence.

Together with impactful substitutions from the Hurricanes' bench this season - including a wonderful try-saving tackle against the Crusaders - Ellison must be interesting the selectors, if not for next year's World Cup then as an ongoing prospect.

Others to have held out an arm in the direction of a possible All Black outfitting session sometime in the future included captain Corey Flynn and North Harbour winger Viliame Waqaseduadua.

Flynn has had a fine all-round season but is still battling the perception that he throws into the lineout like Lisa Lewis streaks: not quite the real thing. But Flynn must now be pushing Andrew Hore very hard for that third hooker spot in the All Blacks. They will, barring a change of mind, take three hookers to the 2007 World Cup and Flynn's general play has been of such a high standard this year and last night against Tonga, not to mention his captaincy, that he is making up ground fast on Hore.

Waqaseduadua has a way to go before he can be discussed in the same All Black breath. He has work to do in defence, work rate and some of his decisions on where to run are sometimes perplexing. But he is a genuinely troubling attacker. Not a big man, he jinks and jerks and breaks tackles, as he did against Tonga halfback Tevita Palu when a subtle shimmy cracked the tackle and saw him score in the corner.

He also pulled off one of his run-like-a startled-cat dodging bursts out of defence.

The Juniors finished unbeaten in the inaugural championship.

Junior All Blacks 38 (A. Tuitavake, V. Waqaseduadua, J. Gopperth 2, C. McIntyre tries; Gopperth con, 3 pen; McIntyre con),
Tonga 10 (A. Lutui try; P. Hola con, pen).
HT: 20-3.

* Earlier, Samoa showcased their ability to score from broken play when beating Japan 53-9 in a Pacific Five Nations match in New Plymouth. Samoa recorded their first win in the competition by scoring eight tries to none, with fullback Timoteo Iosua and Blues halfback John Senio grabbing two tries each. After a scrappy start, Samoa eventually ground down Japan, who were willing combatants in the opening 30 minutes, but couldn't contain the Pacific Islanders as they ran rampant from broken play.