Wellington players in black for end of year tours

Representative Rugby | 21 October 2014 | Steven White

Eight current Wellington players are back in black for the All Blacks' and Maori All Blacks’ end of tours, kicking off at the start of November.

Hooker Dane Coles (Poneke), lock Jeremy Thrush (Hutt Old Boys Marist), loose forward Victor Vito (Marist St Pat’s), halfback TJ Perenara (Northern United), centre three-quarter Conrad Smith (Old Boys University) and wing three-quarters Julian Savea (Oriental Rongotai) and Cory Jane (Upper Hutt Rams) are in the All Blacks squad.?

The All Blacks will play four sides over respective weekends, with the first Test of the tour against the USA at Soldier Field, Chicago, on Saturday 1 November, followed by England at Twickenham on 8 November, Scotland at Murrayfield on 15 November and Wales at Millennium Stadium on 22 November.?

Vito returns to the team after being out of the black jersey since the June internationals. He made his return to the Wellington Lions for the last two matches of the ITM Cup.?

The positional split for the squad sees 19 forwards selected (three hookers, five props, five locks and six loose forwards) and 15 backs (three halfbacks, three first five-eighths, four midfielders and five outside backs).

Three players, including Ma’a Nonu (Oriental-Rongotai) were not considered due to injury. Nonu broke his not insignificant forearm during last month’s 14-10 Test win over South Africa at Westpac Stadium. He returns to the field for the Hurricanes early next year.?

The squad features a spread of Super Rugby representation and is made up of three Highlanders players, 10 Crusaders, nine Hurricanes, seven Chiefs and five Blues while provincial representation is led by Canterbury (nine players) with Wellington (seven), Auckland (six), Bay of Plenty (three), Counties Manukau, Hawke's Bay and Manawatu (two); and Waikato, Taranaki and Otago (one).

All Blacks Head Coach Steve Hanson said the Northern Tour would provide his side with the opportunity to develop ideas on several fronts.

“As a team, it gives us the opportunity to develop our game and test it against a different opponent each week. ?We can also grow the players through their game time and training. ?And finally, without losing sight of the task at hand, it gives us the opportunity to road-test a few things ahead of Rugby World Cup.”

Outside back Matt Proctor (Oriental-Rongotai) will play for the Maori All Blacks as they embark on a two-match tour of Japan. They play Japan on Saturday, 1 November at Noevair Stadium, Kobe and on Saturday, 8 November at Prince Chichibu Stadium, Tokyo.?

The Maori All Blacks squad features 11 new caps, and will be captained by former Poneke and now Taranaki and Chiefs midfielder Charles Ngatai.

Other players with Wellington club rugby connections in the Maori All Blacks squad for Japan are Chris Eves (Wests Roosters, currently with Manawatu), Michael Kainga (Petone, Bay of Plenty), Blade Thomson (Upper Hutt Rams, Taranaki) and Chris Smylie (Northern United and Old Boys University, Taranaki).

Another player in the Maori squad is Nehe Milner-Skudder, who has reportedly signed with the Hurricanes for 2015.?

A third match, against the Asia Pacific Dragons at Singapore has been cancelled owing to the poor state of the field that the game was supposed to be played on.

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