Firstly to the Bay players who have gained selection. The 3 certainties were Ben Castle and Simms Davison, the props and Jamie Nutbrown although if Kelleher wasn’t being removed for AB conditioning, Nutbrown may well have missed out to Leonard (OK so yes he would have missed out, no way Waikato would have let Leonard slip into the draft – sorry, I forgot that provinces have no say on S14 selections, silly me). It was well flagged that Latimer would be in the Chiefs this time, to keep him out of the Crusaders more than anything else. This is all good news for the Bay, hopefully he can get a decent amount of game time.  

Murray Williams makes the squad due to Waikato’s chronic shortage of players who can play 10, now what Hill has departed. Bizarrely he is joined by draft pick Tasesa Lavea so Williams may be well down the queue for selection. Williams always seems favoured above Delany despite the Bay view that Delany has performed much more consistently in the 10 jersey. With Donald having a nightmare season last year for the Chiefs, Williams may yet find himself in a starting jersey. Finally Ants Tahana is rewarded for his excellent Chiefs work last season with another contract – although we all know he would have missed out had Muliaina and Sivivatu not been in the AB conditioning squad. It will be interesting to see how the Chiefs start with their 11, 14 & 15 selections.   

We have only landed one Bay player into S14 via the draft, Nili Latu has a spot in the Hurricanes as cover no doubt when the ABs are in conditioning. So to the players who have missed out. Top of the list is Mark Sorenson, who despite consistent performances over 4 seasons has yet again missed the Chiefs. Just a couple of months ago he was a shoe-in with Gibbes supposedly off to the UK and Robinson out, possibly for ever. Now Sos has missed out to the hairy Toby Lynn and Ormsby, who will never ever be a good enough lock to start in S14 (and surely Foster has realised that by now) and Lynn is actually pretty untested as well. Waikato’s line-out was dreadful early in the season and Lynn was on the bench by the knock-out stages. He may turn out to be a locking star but history has shown that lineouts are 10 times tougher against Aus and SA opponents.  I imagine Sos will be off to the UK now after he knocked back an offer last season in order to stay in the Chiefs wider training squad. Good luck to the lad, he has earned his chance to make some money. 

Delany and Aporo also missed out. Delany was perhaps a chance as a utility somewhere while Aporo must feel a bit miffed that he missed the Chiefs given the lack of midfield options they have. Tane Tu'ipolotu, the ultimate jobbing rugby player, has turned up in the draft to block Aporo and none of the other provinces have thrown him a chance. Even the Highlanders only have 2 draftees which has given a chance to some Norman No-names. Aporo has been named in the Sevens training squad so hopefully he can secure himself a Sevens contract. John Pareanga did not miss out to the missing Linklater, because he missed out as well - Aled de Malmanche sealing the backup spot despite very little game time in the position. Again that is a big risk for lineouts should he have to come in for Willis.

Colin Bourke has also missed out again, I wonder what he will do next. So overall, I am not surprised at the selections, just disappointed as usual. The destruction of our 2004 side will continue and we will have to find some more new players for 2007.