Photos: All Blacks squadKEY POINTS:
How depressing. I can't remember feeling so detached about an All Blacks selection, certainly not so disturbed by a shadow World Cup choice.
There was little anticipation at the Hall of Legends yesterday at Eden Park, none of the usual crackle of mystery and curiosity which lured you towards these Heartbeat of the Nation announcements. The lustre of the occasion, like the All Black aura, had eroded.
It will not have for Brendon Leonard and John Schwalger who experienced the thrill of being chosen to join the most famous rugby club in the world. They were rewarded for performance in the Super 14. It was a day they should never forget.
But you can only imagine how discouraging it must have been for others who slogged away in that competition, all those fullbacks, loose forwards and hookers who never stood a chance from the start of the series. Protected players barred their promotion, it was a done deal.
The New Zealand Rugby Union charged Henry and Co with winning the World Cup at any cost. That obsession has produced the dangerous spinoffs.
In isolation conditioning is a sensible concept, but when it impacts significantly on the Super 14 and national championship it is counter-productive. Spoiling more than a year of rugby in a bid to succeed in three weeks in October is an unbalanced strategy. The coaches embarked on their plans only because the NZRU allowed them.
Henry claimed the benefits would be apparent in September and the alternative was for the players to complete a full Super 14 and other games giving them a disastrous 30-match workload for the season.
No mention of playing them then resting them in chunks in the Super 14 like the South Africans or alternating them in the opening tests. That would have halved their matchload and kept them in rugby trim.
No matter which way Henry tries to cut it, the conditioned squad were assured selection in the shadow World Cup squad when they were picked last October. That has given them a false sense of security.
Their lack of sharpness on their return has allowed South African sides to grab a psychological ascendancy and there must be doubts whether some will regain their zing later in the season.
It could happen, the All Blacks might win the World Cup. But the lack of encouragement for those outside the Cotton Wool Club, the reduced competition, the pre-determined test squad - it all felt uncomfortably shallow.
