{"id":306598,"date":"2025-11-25T00:03:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T00:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/306598\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T00:03:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T00:03:08","slug":"ex-all-blacks-name-just-three-current-all-blacks-in-2025-dream-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/306598\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-All Blacks name just three current All Blacks in 2025 dream team"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Six nations are represented in a trio of All Blacks<\/a> greats\u2019 team of the year for 2025, with just three of their fellow countrymen making the cut as New Zealand\u2019s biggest rivals dominate.<\/p>\n

Jeff Wilson, Mils Muliaina<\/a>, and Stephen Donald<\/a> were given the special task in addition to providing their usual punditry on The Breakdown<\/a> this week, casting their eye over the international landscape to award the best player at each position during the calendar year.<\/p>\n

France, Australia, and England<\/a> each had one player in the XV, while Ireland<\/a> had two, New Zealand<\/a> had three, and South Africa<\/a> had the most selections with seven.<\/p>\n

There were tight calls across the park, with Ardie Savea<\/a> a notable omission as a loose forward trio of Tadhg Beirne<\/a>, Pieter-Steph du Toit<\/a>, and Jasper Wiese<\/a> were elected for their respective campaigns. Wilson gave a special mention to Du Toit, acknowledging him as one of the world\u2019s best.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I watch him play, there\u2019s a reason he\u2019s been Player of the Year before,\u201d he said. \u201cHe is a game-changer, difference-maker.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, he does everything you would need, consistently, minute after minute; he doesn\u2019t take a minute off. His physicality comes in every part of the game, and the fact that he\u2019s been able to cover at lock for them when they\u2019ve needed, too; this guy is an absolute beast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finn Russell also missed out to Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu<\/a>, in what the pundits described as one of the toughest calls. Donald, the hero of the 2011 Rugby World Cup<\/a> final for New Zealand, explained what pushed him in Feinberg-Mngomezulu\u2019s direction by recalling an interview from earlier in the year with fellow ex-All Black 10 and current Springbok attack coach Tony Brown.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had Browny on the show, and he put him in the (Antoine) Dupont, and (Dan) Carter class, and Browny\u2019s not one to throw out wild statements like that. He\u2019s had an amazing year,\u201d Donald recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinn Russell would have gone very, very close. He plays for Scotland, and he doesn\u2019t have much of a set-up there; he\u2019s their man every time anyone plays Scotland. I thought Finn Russell<\/a> had an amazing series for the Lions, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The midfield was another contentious call, with the pundits describing Damian Willemse<\/a> as a must-have selection, although in what position was initially unclear. The Springbok star ended up partnering Wallabies stand-out Len Ikitau<\/a> in the midfield, despite neither being selected in the jersey number they most commonly occupied in 2025.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the trio\u2019s desire to have more All Blacks in the team, they said omitting Savea was a difficult call, while awarding selection to Cam Roigard<\/a> was well-deserved.<\/p>\n

\u201cCam is a significant difference-maker for the All Blacks. I think when you saw him out on the field, the way that he played and the impact that he had in big games, he clearly stood out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Breakdown\u2019s 2025 XV Of the Year<\/p>\n

Ox NcheMalcolm MarxTadhg FurlongMaro ItojeFabian HollandTadhg BeirnePieter-Steph du ToitJasper WieseCam RoigardSacha Feinberg-MngomezuluLoius Bielle-BiarreyDamian WillemseLen IkitauCheslin KolbeWill Jordan <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Six nations are represented in a trio of All Blacks greats\u2019 team of the year for 2025, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-306598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}