[2014 TRC] Argentina v New Zealand in La Plata (27/09/2014)

[Jack Reacher]

Well, yes. I'm aware of what happened with Cully, but more that his time was up from the All Blacks very young (and he had substantial knee injuries). Mitchell did in fact select fullbacks at fullback with Muliaina and Leon MacDonald - but there was still probably plenty of room for Cullen and Mehrtens over Ben Blair, Caleb Ralph and Ben Atiga (who got a total of 6 minutes playing time)..

Yes Mitchell did seem to inherit or develop a pretty average class of players for 2-3 years. A bit of a hangover from Harts days I guess when all the old boys hung on due to earning money (Brookes, Dowd, Jones etc). There was a major change of the guard for 3-4 years. players like Ralph, Blair, Laulala, Mark Ranby, Joe McDonnell, Nathan Mauger, Sam Broomhall, Brad Mika, Steve Devine - could go on forever!!