Scott Robertson has never been afraid to make a difficult call and there was no shortage of them on Monday when the new All Blacks coach revealed his first squad of the year.
But the unluckiest man in New Zealand rugby has to be Hoskins Sotutu, the Blues No.8 who is now being encouraged to consider a change of international allegiance.
Sotutu scored 12 tries for the Super Rugby Pacific champions in 2024, equalling the season record for a forward.
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But Robertson chose 21-year-old Chiefs rival Wallace Sititi ahead of the 25-year-old who has played 14 Tests for the All Blacks.
The last of those was in 2022, meaning the snubbed star could potentially play for a different country next year.
Sotutu qualifies for Fiji through his father and England through his mother.
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Eddie Jones reportedly tried to lure Sotutu to England in 2020 before he was capped by the All Blacks while former Fiji coach Simon Raiwalui encouraged him to make the switch online.
Sotutu is the son of former Fiji winger Waisake Sotutu.
He appeared to voice his discontent on Instagram with a caption reading “MostHated.”
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All Blacks legend John Kirwan agreed Sotutu was desperately unlucky.
“My first reaction is disappointment for Hoskins just because I think he’s played well all year and so he’ll be incredibly disappointed,” Kirwan said on Sky Sport.
“I don’t know what more he needs to do but that is their selection so they’ve obviously got a game plan in mind.”
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Robertson, a former All Blacks loose forward, didn’t get into the nitty gritty of the decision, but tellingly stressed the importance of players firing on both sides of the ball.
“The toughest call,” Robertson said.
“We thought hard and deep, challenged myself, looked at all the reasons why I picked players, and that’s where we fell.
“We believe Wallace is an incredible young talent. The harder the game, the higher he rose in regards to his performance.”
Sititi was named alongside fellow loose forwards Ardie Savea, Dalton Papali’i, Luke Jacobson, Samipeni Finau and Ethan Blackadder.
The latter has struggled to stay on the park for much of his career due to injuries, playing just eight games for the Crusaders the past two seasons.
“He’s a Test footballer, he’s physical, he’s tough. He leads all the battle stats. He will do a job,” Robertson said of Blackadder.
Impressive Hurricanes loose forward Peter Lakai will train with the squad as an “emerging player.”
He joins four other players – Blues lock Sam Darry, Hurricanes fullback Ruben Love and Crusaders George Bower (prop) and David Havili (midfielder) – not in the official squad but on deck to provide injury cover.
Another area of interest was Robertson’s decision to name hooker George Bell alongside Codie Taylor and Asafo Aumua despite the faltering Crusaders lineout this year.
“It was a decision for the future,” Robertson said.
“We feel like we’ve got an incredibly young, talented, athletic player that’s going to thrive in our environment. He’s got all the attributes to go a long way and play a lot of time in the jersey.”