Team Naming Thursday - All Black Edition

This morning the All Blacks team was named to face the French on Saturday night at Eden Park. No huge surprises were announced in the lineup with the injuries to Dan Carter and Piri Weepu.

The inclusion of the out of form Aaron Smith and Israel Dagg has caused a few questions to be raised about the need for All Blacks to perform in their Super Rugby teams. We all know what they can do in the black jersey, however both of these guys will need to have a big performance against the French to justify their on going selections throughout the rest of the series and further down the track towards the Rugby Championship.

All Blacks

1. Wyatt Crockett

2. Dane Coles

3. Owen Franks

4. Luke Romano

5. Brodie Retallick

6. Liam Messam

7. Sam Cane

8. Kieran Read

9. Aaron Cruden

10. Aaron Smith

11. Julian Savea

12. Ma'a Nonu

13. Conrad Smith

14. Ben Smith

15. Israel Dagg

Reserves

16. Kevin Melamu

17. Ben Afeaki

18. Ben Franks

19. Jeremy Thrush

20. Victor Vito

21. Tawera Kerr-Barlow

22. Beauden Barrett

23. Rene Ranger

Steve Hansen and his fellow coaches appear to be looking to the future with a young and relatively new All Black lineup but with a good mix of experience.

Sam Cane has been given the opportunity to further his cause for Richie McCaw's number 7 jersey and will be up against a brutal and physical French forward pack.

Rene Ranger on the bench can cover a wide variety of positions in the back-line and will be a fantastic impact off the bench when he enters the game.

In past years the French have always been a bit of a surprise package, on their day they can certainly be a formidable force, as we all remember in the RWC 2011 final. However on other occasions they fail to bring the intensity needed to an All Black arena and certainly can fail to live up to expectations. We are all eagerly waiting for which team walks out onto Eden Park on Saturday night.

As always the lead up to a test match is an exciting and special time, the nerves and anticipation that only an All Black test match can bring are being felt up and down the country. After my netball game on Saturday I will be wearing my jersey with pride.

My snacks have been purchased, the beer is in the fridge and the countdown continues to the first All Black test match of 2013.

Bring it on.

What do you think of the team named?