The non-selection of Hosea Gear in the All Blacks squad for the Rugby World Cup is one of the great selectorial bungles of all time.
In the UK the bookies had the Maori winger clear favourite as top try-scorer for the tournament, pre his shock omission. The bookies, as the saying goes, usually know something. You can guarantee they won’t be putting Zac Guildford up there into top spot. In fact you can sense them slotting in Digby Ioane’s name as I write.
The All Blacks are now, it must be stated, ridiculously lightweight on the wings. Cory Jane is a fine talent and probably deserved his selection for his skillset as a winger as well as his ability to cover fullback. But here’s the thing – there already is cover for fullback in the potent form of Israel Dagg. How much ‘cover’ do you need?
Please someone tell me what Zac Guildford, like Gear an out-and-out specialist, has done this season or any season to be counted in Henry’s best starting team, let alone the squad. Last year, remember, Henry rated Gear the best winger in world rugby. No-one, not even the All Blacks boss, will ever say that about Guildford.
Apparently Guildford doesn’t go ‘missing’ in games the way Gear does, or that other proven scoring machine, Sivivatu, also left out. But neither can he bust lines, score impossible tries, and play as well in the white heat of South Africa as Gear did the week before he was dropped, despite being out for much of the season.
Anyone who saw Gear skin his English opponent at Twickenham last year and who remembers his performance for the New Zealand Maoris against the English during their last southern tour, will know we’re talking about one of the most lethal creators and finishers in world rugby.
Guildford is a journeyman, fast, hard-working and reliable (at least until yesterday’s pressure-cooker atmosphere against the Wallabies). But at this level he scares no-one, other than perhaps All Blacks fans. His is a frighteningly conservative selection and one that Henry deserves to be grilled and grilled again over.
Any other country that unearthed such a powerful force as Gear would nurture him, get the ball to him, and, most of all, have his name down first on the team-sheet. Graham Henry and his cohorts have deprived New Zealanders and the world from seeing this brilliant young player take the world scene by storm in coming weeks. They may have also deprived us of the World Cup.