All Blacks squad named to face British and Irish Lions; NZ Herald

Hurricanes duo Ngani Laumape and Jordie Barrett are the two new names in the All Blacks squad to face Samoa and the British and Irish Lions.

Jordie, Beauden and Scott Barrett are the first sibling trio to be named in the same All Blacks squad and will be just the fourth set of three brothers to play for the All Blacks, following the Brownlie and Nicholls brothers in the 1920s and the Whitelocks in recent years.

All Blacks Head Coach Steve Hansen said: "Obviously, it's a very special occasion for the Barrett and Laumape families, with Jordie and Ngani being selected for the first time. Jordie has been in outstanding form, he has a skillset which is complete and has a great running and kicking game. Ngani too has been impressive throughout the Super season and has forced his way in through commanding performances," Hansen said.

Forwards:

Hookers

Dane Coles (Wellington, 49)

Codie Taylor (Canterbury, 15)

Nathan Harris (Bay of Plenty, 4)

Props
Wyatt Crockett (Canterbury, 58)
Charlie Faumuina (Auckland, 46)
Owen Franks (Canterbury, 90)
Joe Moody (Canterbury, 24)
Ofa Tu'ungafasi (Auckland, 4)

Locks
Scott Barrett (Taranaki, 4)
Brodie Retallick (Hawke's Bay, 60)
Luke Romano (Canterbury, 26)
Samuel Whitelock (Canterbury, 84)

Loose Forwards
Sam Cane (Bay of Plenty, 40)
Jerome Kaino (Auckland, 74)
Kieran Read, captain (Counties Manukau, 97)
Ardie Savea (Wellington, 12)
Liam Squire (Tasman, 8)

Backs:

Halfbacks

Tawera Kerr-Barlow (Waikato, 25)

TJ Perenara (Wellington, 29)

Aaron Smith (Manawatu, 58)

First five-eighths

Beauden Barrett (Taranaki, 49)

Aaron Cruden (Manawatu, 47)

Lima Sopoaga (Southland, 6)

Midfielders

Ryan Crotty (Canterbury, 26)

Ngani Laumape (Manawatu, uncapped)

Anton Lienert-Brown (Waikato, 9)

Sonny Bill Williams (Counties Manukau, 33)

Outside backs

Jordie Barrett (Taranaki, uncapped)

Israel Dagg (Hawke's Bay, 61)

Rieko Ioane (Auckland, 2)

Waisake Naholo (Taranaki, 12)

Julian Savea (Wellington, 52)

Ben Smith (Otago, 60)

 Laumape and Jordie Barrett are good inclusions. McKenzie will be gutted but hopefully they gave him a call to encourage him. Just read he was named to the Maori All Blacks.

 Some stunning omissions from the squad, but what can you do when your cup runneth over ........ hey, JW ?

 ...Looks like quite a few Maori left out to bolster the Maori ABs...Ngatai, NMS and Damian McKEnzie for example...Reiko Ia one and TKB named in both teams...a very strong Maori ABs squad named at the same time as the ABs as well...
NZ Maori squad

Chris Eves, Kane Hames, Mike Kainga, Ben May, Marcel Renata, Ash Dixon (c), Hika elliot, Tom Franklin, Leighton Price, Joe Wheeler, Elliot Dixon, Akira Ioane, Liam Meesam, Reed Prinsep, Kara Pryor, Bryn Hall, Otere Black, Ihaia West, Tim Bateman, Charlie Ngatai, Matt Proctor, Rieko Ioane, Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Declan O'Donnell, Nehe Milner-Skudder, Damian McKenzie, James Lowe, Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi

the backline is lethal...if you consider you've a choice between NMS, DMac, James Lowe and REiko Iaone for outside back positions..

good options in standoff with Black and West

good options at halfback with TKB and Tahuriorangi from the Chiefs

imagine Reiko and Ngatai in the centres

Great loosy options with Akira, Messam, Elliot Dixon, Prinsep

All in all a very strong Maori AB squad

 Would have been easy for Hansen to select McKenzie but he'd probably only be in reserve for Ben Smith...better served playing for the Maoris...
There is no disputing that McKenzie has better stats than Jordy Barret though if you compare the two...which is why quite a few people are scratching their heads
Damian McKenzie v Jordie Barrett
Minutes: 1040 - 856
Tries: 5 - 5
Carries: 178 - 106
Metres: 1260 - 684
Clean breaks: 24 - 13
Defenders beaten: 58 - 24

 Jordie's aerial skills, better defence & height?

 ...DMac tackles at around 85% compared to Jordies 65% according to some of the stats i've seen....obviously Jordie has the height advantage...but both great talents and what a great story having three brothers in the ABs...
 

 ...Five backup players were also named for the ABs as cover for the Lions tour... loose forwards Akira Iaone, Vaea Fifita, , Matt Todd, hooker Liam Coltman and Jack Goodhue (leapfrogs Fekitoa )

Good squad.......SBW has to play at 12 ahead of average Crotty, the weak link in the AB squad  

Ridiculous depth and continuity. Only have to bring in two new caps, and they're both studs. Leaving studs on the sidelines too.
Compare that to the Springbok experience. Jake White was the last Bok coach that had the combination of both quality experience and youth pipeline to select from.

 I dunno Saffex wee Crotty has done some sterling work for the ABS but yeah SBW is in better form ATM.So no room in there for wee Feks ? He would probably walk into any other team same as Skuds and Mackenzie .

 ...Crotty is injured anyway so they brought Laumape and Goodhue in....Faddes would'nt have looked out of place either in a AB jersey...but SBW is injured half the time as well so plenty of options and depth there if anyone goes down...,...then they can also borrow players from the Maori ABs - Ngatai for instance
Maori ABs backline looking lethal as...http://www.theroar.com.au/2017/06/09/the-maori-all-blacks-boast-the-worlds-second-best-backline/

Cloudy he aint injured .... Laumape preferred.