Rennie queries selection criteria

Turbos coach Dave Rennie has been left wondering why Super 14 squads don't contain the country's 140 best players.

He was perplexed that his best player this year, No8 Brent Thompson, couldn't make any of the five squads.

"Brent is clearly better than a number of players around the country who have picked up Super 14 contracts," Rennie said.

He is sure some Super 14 coaches would have been interested in Thompson and he would have been easily good enough for the Blues.

Rennie had a feeling that Super 14 coaches were forced to pick players who already had New Zealand Rugby Union contracts, as the national body was keen to save money.

"Some selections seemed to be based on financial reasons rather than on performance."

The Players Association pushed for two-year contracts and Rennie said there was some merit in that, but not if coaches were forced to take players who weren't among the best 140.

"That certainly wasn't the intention when the Super 12 was first started," Rennie said.

Some players making franchise squads had been dropped from their Air New Zealand Cup teams.

Rennie stressed Thompson got better and better as the season progressed and Super 14 coaches would have had to be blind not to notice.

"Take the All Blacks out and he was one of the best No8s in the country," Rennie said.

He said the Turbos didn't always go forward and they had to do more work going back than the top teams.

"For the guys from the big teams, those qualities haven't been tested. It's not always easy for our guys; they deal with difficult ball and make a lot more tackles.

"So in the end, I wonder about the system."

After the rejection, Thompson has been left disillusioned and wondering if it is worth playing any more rugby in New Zealand.

He phoned Hurricanes coach Colin Cooper after the team was released on Wednesday and was told Cooper didn't have any choice; that Thompson wasn't on a list of players eligible to be picked.

"I was probably playing some of my best rugby. What's the point of playing when you can't go any higher? I thought I deserved to be in there."

Thompson hadn't turned anyone down, as was rumoured, but was backing himself to be picked for the Hurricanes.

He preferred not to go to the Highlanders (after an informal chat with his manager) but he said that if he'd known there were other complications, he might have changed his mind.

"It has really made me quite angry," Thompson said.

Neil Sorensen, NZRU general manager professional rugby, confirmed Thompson, who didn't player Super 14 rugby in the previous season, needed to be contracted by the NZRU by the deadline of October 23.

"He wasn't contracted by the NZRU by the deadline, as there wasn't sufficient interest in him by the franchises," Sorenson said.

As far as Thompson knew, up to three teams were interested in him. And he knew nothing about a contract deadline.

- © Fairfax NZ News