kerr barlows first day in All Blacks camp "the coolest in his life",,,

New All Black Tawera Kerr-Barlow has entered camp as a bright eyed fan as much as anything else, but he knows he must shelve his excitement if he is to challenge for a starting spot.
  The Waikato halfback, who impressed in Investec Super Rugby before carrying on that form in the ITM Cup, is one of three nines alongside current incumbent Aaron Smith and Piri Weepu.

The Blues halfback is the veteran, but has only started one test this season, while the Highlanders bullet passer has run out for the remainder of the All Blacks internationals in 2012.

Kerr-Barlow said that his first introduction to the team formally, collecting their gear courtesy of the sponsors of the All Blacks, was like a dream come true.

"I was like a kid in a candy store getting kitted out in all my All Blacks gear," he said,

"I'm probably still containing myself, but inside I'm jumping around. Last night I think I was more nervous than before I play a football match, but today was probably one of the coolest days of my life."

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has indicated that every member of the 32-man squad will get a run in the World Champions first two tests of the Air New Zealand Tour, meaning that the 22-year-old could get an early chance.

"I'm just going to soak up everything here, learn all the moves and do the business on the paddock," he said, wary of the competitive environment that existed within the All Blacks.

"I have to try to remain calm and not let the occasion overwhelm me, but words can't express how excited I am at the moment."

"For me, just to put on the jersey and go out there and hear the anthem and do the haka will be amazing. But I'm looking forward to soaking up the atmosphere over there too."

with kerr barlow and dane coles in the squad as the only All Blacks without test caps, its my strong belief that the All Blacks are doing a much better job in developing players for the future then Springboks.

the Boks have five newbies in their squad with no test experience, franco van der mewe, lionel mapoe, arno botha, j veermak and raymond rhule, but they only have 3 test series and its my strong belief, meyer is going to want to win all his games after a disappointing start to his Bok coaching tenure which includes the worst ever result against the pumas.

with only 3 tests for the Boks to play, what are the chances that these new players are going to get picked??? add to that u got steenkamp, britz, cj van der linde and a bunch of other old and underpreforming players in the team, when they could be investing it into other newer players like craig burden, kitshoff and malharbe, but what ever.

i know the All Blacks dont exactly have the youngest squad, but at least their players are in form which IMO is the biggest prerequiste for selection.
kerr barlow and coles are gurnateed to get game time, most likely of the bench though, but still its better then just being involved in the squad which is IMO what half the Boks team have been selected for.
 

Sasue

Agree with you about the All Blacks team renewal programme an am looking forward very much to the forthcoming tests to see how it pans out. 

Meyer is far too erratic.  One step forwards and ten steps back is what he is doing.   However, I do believe that we will only see next year how the local replacement programme pans  out.   We have fewer players to replce - since the SA players average age is only 25 in any event.   There are in fact only six players 29 and older.   There are some younger players that also do not perform and need to be replaced.   

In essence I do believe SA has serious problems at center and scrummie  - where replacement playes are not really obvious - but I think that the next Super Series may impact on selections.

Would have been better if Hansen had come to his senses earlier and used Kerr Barlow , Cruden and SBW together after winning the Super XV as they were the proven winning combination with the Almighty Chiefs...but call me a one eyed Chiefs supporter if you want...

Brycy

I neer doubted it that you are a "one-eyed Chiefs supporter"  - you mde the call yourselff and you are indeed correct in that one.   Cruden as an international flyhalf?  The jury is out on that one.   He still hs a lot to prove.

...Rest assured Cruden will make yr lives very miserable in years to come not so clever mike so i'm glad noone noticed he was the top points scorer in the Super XV and has been in the background coz that just makes strolling through yr backline all the more easy... notice how i avoided saying he will kick yr yarpy butt....Brycy mastering the art of paraphrasing....

saSUE I am sure Barlow,s day was the coolest in his lefegive the bucnch of wets he was with!!! Bwahahahahahahahaha

Mike please tryand getfocussed. Here we have hougaard (who may yet prove to be the greatest scrmhalf the world has seen since Joost) Pienaar, Reinaach, Vermaak, Sarel and young Groom and you speak of problems a scrumhalf!!!

At center we have Jean, Frans, De jongh, Jordaan, Ebersohn and Mapoe. We have the best young center in the world comng up in Jan Serfontein. We have youngsters like Allende, Howard, Du Plessis who will becoming on stream by 2014 latest. No we have sufficient resources at center.

I think by even 2013 meyer will be wllingo play some of the current under 21 talent. Would not surprise me if we see for example Kitshoff and Malherbe in the mix. Jordaanwill definitely get the nod next year. Frans will be back as well.

Ou brycy doesnt realise the crude can get intimidated. He stops running  when things get tough. A poor mans Carter. Glad youare learning brycy - its why you are here, hahahhahahhahahahaha

Crudens the bollix, he just needs to work on his conservative game a bit more where Carter is alot stronger. In many facets i really think Cruden has 1 up on Carter just not the all round game yet but makes for a super duper sub