17 September 2019, by: Ludumo Nkabi

Left Out of the Rugby World Cup XV – The best players not in Japan

There have been a lot of omissions in the build-up to the Rugby World Cup in Japan, some were warranted, some were surprising and some were just downright ludicrous, here are is a combined XV of the biggest omissions ahead of the World Cup.

He was dropped by Eddie Jones after an alleged altercation with Ben Te’o, his experience and dependability would have been great assets for England. Elliot Daly and Anthony Watson were preferred by Eddie Jones. Sad way to end a great Test career.

The age 27 seems to be the All Black winger expiration age, even Naholo has not managed to evade it like Julian Savea could not before him. There is a new wave of talent out wide for the All Blacks and Naholo sadly had to make way.

This could have easily been Mathieu Bastareud, but he has not looked up to standard in international rugby for a while now, Jones, on the other hand, looked like he could do no wrong on the international stage for a long time. His form waned this season, a travesty as he is amazing to watch in full flight.

Another Cipriani case, Sonny Bill Williams is a great player, but it is hard to see how he offers more than Laumape. The bustling centre not only possesses power and pace, but he also has a nose for the try line and you cannot buy his killer instinct. A crying shame he won’t strut his stuff at the World Cup

The French are not known for their consistency – both in terms of performance and selection. However, over the last couple of years, Thomas was a focal point of consistency on the left wing with a strong showing after strong showing. How he disappeared into obscurity in 2019 remains a mystery. France will miss him.

A simple case of a player just not being the coach’s cup of tea, it is the only explanation that makes sense when you consider Eddie Jones was not interested in selecting a player who is possibly the best flyhalf England have had since Jonny Wilkinson. There is also the smaller matter of him being Premiership Player of the Year.

Phipps is another long-time servant to fall short of the final World Cup squad – same can be said of Danny Care and Morgan Parra in his position. He may have made the squad had Michael Cheika not opted for only 2 scrumhalves. The Waratahs man was a Cheika lieutenant during his tenure at New South Wales, so the Wallabies coach is unlikely to have excluded him unless he absolutely had to.

To be fair to Mario Ledesma, he indicated beforehand that locally-based players would get preference, however, Isa’s ability to get over the advantage line would have been a huge plus for a team looking to assert their physical dominance again. Unlucky.

The influential number 8 suffered a broken collarbone in training in late July. Although Wales were somewhat used to life without the 72-cap Faletau who was a virtual ever-present in the side after making his debut in 2011. The burly runner has started only two Six Nations matches in his three seasons having continuously struggled injuries. He’ll be missed in such a big and extended competition.

This was the player’s call as opposed to Hansen being the villain in this case. A trusted proponent of the Hansen way, the Highlanders loose forward opted to stay behind explaining that he did not feel physically and mentally ready for the World Cup.

Irish supporters were up in arms at Toner’s omission, unfairly directing their anger at recently qualified South African-born lock Jean Kleyn who effectively took Toner’s sport in the squad. The 33-year-old second-rower should be disappointed as he has been a great servant of Irish rugby, but there is very little between the top tier nations going into this World Cup and any small advantage will be important. Joe Schmidt feels Kleyn will give them that.

Will Skelton turned down the chance to play for Australia at the World Cup in Japan and instead has signed a two-year contract extension with Saracens. Under Rugby Australia’s laws, Skelton was ineligible but RA were trying to make last minute arrangements in order to shoehorn the massive second-rower in the Wallabies World Cup squad. Skelton, who has won 18 caps for Australia, has raised his game since signing with Sarries and would have been a valuable individual member of their squad.

This is the most shocking omission leading up to the Rugby World Cup, one would have expected that the Test centurion would have been one of the first names on Steve Hansen’s list. As we have now learnt, the seemingly unshakable Christchurch front-rower is human after all. Whether leaving out a man of his experience will come back to haunt the All Blacks remains to be seen.

The end of the 34-year-old veterans international career it seems. Polota-Nau now with the Leicester Tigers was capped 90 times over his 14-year career. At least the hooker got a deserved send off against Samoa in their warm-up to the competition.

The All Blacks revolving door when it comes to looseheads has gone full circle again. A year ago, Karl Tu’inukuafe was dominant in the All Blacks number 1 jersey and ended the season as a World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year nominee. He was cut from the squad ahead of the Bledisloe Cup and that saw the end of a Rugby World Cup dream that you would not have bet against last year.

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