Thursday Round-Up

Hansen calls on big guns: New Zealand head coach Steve Hansen has named a full strength side for this weekend’s clash with Wales at the Millennium Stadium, but has interestingly opted to omit flyhalf Dan Carer from the match day squad completely. Having lined out against Scotland last week in his first test match in almost a year, Carter failed to catch the eye and now sees his ten jersey relinquished to Beauden Barrett, who partners Aaron Smith at halfback. Elsewhere across the backline, Sonny Bill Williams combines with the experienced Conrad Smith in midfield, while Charles Piutau, Julian Savea and Ben Smith make up the back three, with no place in the squad for Malakai Fekitoa either. Upfront, Dane Coles packs down between Owen Franks and Wyatt Crockett, while Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock return to the engine room to form a formidable front five, Skipper Richie McCaw returns to the seven jersey this weekend, lining up with Jerome Kaino and Kieran Read to from arguably the world’s finest back rows and set up an almighty battle with the trio of Lydiate, Warburton and Faletau. McCaw will lead out the All Blacks for the 100th time in Cardiff on Saturday in what is sure to be a mouth watering clash.

Samoan woes continue: The tension between the Samoan Rugby Union and the players involved in this month’s November international series, is yet to come to a standstill, with the latest news suggesting that he SRU refused to attend an IRB sanctioned meeting. With the Union citing simple confusion surrounding the dates as the reason for their absence at the meeting, national team players like Dan Leo were a little more skeptical as to the real reasons, taking to social media site Twitter to voice his concerns over the current state of affairs. Although Samoa’s clash with England is no longer in jeopardy, having had stern warnings about the repercussions from the IRB, the players still want a change in the problematic governance procedures in place at the Samoan Rugby Union.

Ryan Sheady