Former New Zealand scrum-half Byron Kelleher has criticised the All Blacks selection policy ahead of and during the World Cup campaign.
Kelleher retired from international rugby after the quarter-final defeat to France and admitted senior players were reluctant to follow Graham Henry’s rotation method.
The former Waikato, Otago and Chiefs half-back, who will join French Top-14 outfit Toulouse after the World Cup, also revealed he found the omission of Doug Howlett and Aaron Mauger from the majority of the World Cup campaign puzzling.
"Some of the players didn’t really want to believe in it but we were all as one in this World Cup and we all buy into the concept together and that was the coach’s strategy for this World Cup," Kelleher told TV3.
"We do make comments in the All Blacks and sometimes we agree to disagree at times so we are all heading in the same direction and all on the same wavelength to achieve the ultimate goal.
"You can’t replace experience. No matter how much flair and talent might be coming through from youth, experience is what it is all about.
"England has been showing us that. They have a lot of players in there who know how to win games and that is unfortunately in the nature of this competition."
