KEY POINTS:
Troy Flavell saw his World Cup dream slipping away well before the axe finally fell late last month.
When a successful season as captain of the Blues earned him a recall into the All Blacks fold for the warm-up tests and the Tri-Nations, Flavell's personal crusade to snare a seat on the plane to France seemed to be progressing well.
But, by the midway point of the Tri-Nations, it was clear his star was falling. Having been overlooked for the final two tests of the Tri-Nations, Flavell wasn't surprised when the All Blacks selectors opted for Reuben Thorne as their lock/blindside swingman.
"I felt it coming," Flavell said at an Auckland training session yesterday.
"I could see, reading between the lines in the way the team was being structured week-in week-out - and my involvement ... "
He was, he admitted, a little bitter about the road he was asked to travel in order to prove his worth.
The lack of rest between an arduous Super 14 campaign and his All Blacks auditions hadn't helped his chances. Flavell came off the bench in the two tests against France and started against Canada and then South Africa and Australia in the away legs of the Tri-Nations.
The five consecutive matches in as many weeks took their toll and when Flavell trudged off the MCG to be replaced by Ross Filipo six minutes into the second half of the All Blacks' 20-15 defeat by Australia, his tank was pretty much running on empty.
"When I first went into the All Black environment I was told I was going to be on some sort of conditioning programme, which never came, obviously due to injuries," he said.
Those injuries - to the likes of Chris Jack, Keith Robinson, James Ryan and Jason Eaton - meant overusing Flavell became a necessity. It also meant he never got the chance to show his hand at his more favoured position of blindside flanker.
"I'm not going to get all sour grapes over it. It is part of life and it is the way rugby is. You just roll with the punches.
"I felt the brunt of that but I guess that's rugby. When individuals fall over you've got to step up and fill the slot, which I tried to do with the Tri-Nations."
Considering Robinson's lengthy and measured rehabilitation from a succession of injuries before he sealed his Cup berth with a couple of late hitouts in the home legs of the Tri-Nations, it's easy to understand Flavell's exasperation.
It is Robinson's continued struggle with a nagging calf injury that has left the Cup door slightly ajar for Flavell, who has been told he is "next cab of the rank" should anyone succumb to injury between now and the first boarding call for Paris.
"I've come close but not quite got there," he said. "If anyone falls over I'll definitely put my hand up. It's a hard one. I hope these guys don't fall over because it wouldn't be fair on them, but any opportunity I do get I am going to make the most of."
Flavell didn't believe his involvement in a late-night drinking session the night before the squad was announced had played a part in his omission. "That was definitely an off-the-field issue. It probably got blown out of proportion a bit as well."
The Cup squad had probably been pencilled in a year ago, he said.
"They have really pushed that team - their conditioning squad - along in the hope that these guys get fit and up to a certain standard, which they are starting to reach now."
After two weeks of "chilling out", Flavell is now back on deck with Auckland.
He may have made 59 national championship appearances for the enemy across the bridge but he said he was having no trouble adjusting to life as an Aucklander. He had, after all, played or trained with the vast majority of the Auckland squad at the Blues.
"I used to live in Auckland play for Harbour and now I live in Harbour and play for Auckland, so there are a few traffic issues.
"But it's not too bad. I've looked up to this side over the years and we've had some good clashes when I was playing in the Harbour colours."
Flavell, who will come off the bench against Waikato tomorrow night, said a national championship title would "definitely" go a long way towards easing his World Cup pain.
"I haven't won an NPC title so it would be great."
Before trotting off to join his new teammates, Flavell had one parting shot to fire. Asked for his thoughts on the 10-week ban handed to Hawkes Bay prop Clint Newland for punching Neemia Tialata, he says: "Ten weeks is a bit light. I probably would have got six months or something."
