Sports correspondent & historian with Sideline Sid

The words "No alarms and no surprises" in a Radio NZ report on the naming of the All Blacks to play in the tenth edition of the Rugby World Cup, summed up my thoughts on the squad selection.

Saturday night's second Bledisloe Cup encounter of 2023, was an important pathway step, in the All Blacks attempt to win the Webb Ellis trophy for the fourth time.

The All Blacks ran out in Dunedin with 13 changes from the team that had whipped the Aussies by 31 points just seven days before.

With the Bledisloe trophy wrapped up for another season, the All Black selectors rolled the dice in Dunedin, with three debutantes and two test newcomers in the regulation twenty-three.

There was early hesitation and obvious lack of cohesion as the New Zealand representatives played as individuals, instead of a cohesive unit, with the visitors storming to a 17-3 lead at the halftime break in play.

The injection of massive experience in Aaron Smith, Dane Coles and Richie Mo'unga, turned the momentum in the home sides favour.

Coles provided impact in the front row, Smith took charge at the pivotal position at the base of the scrum, with Mo'unga ranging far and wide in the backline.

With a full squad of 33 needed for the challenges in France, the Dunedin hitout gave Head-Coach Foster the opportunity, to gauge the individual performances of first team contenders.

This arm-chair selector reckons that the All Black selectors got it pretty right. Chiefs winger, Shaun Stevenson, could be considered unlucky not to be boarding the plane to Europe after scoring a try on debut on the weekend.

Fellow Chiefs player, Brad Weber, is another who could be considered unlucky, however both are likely to be on the shortlist for emergency cover.

Western Bay rugby fans had little time to reflect on the All Blacks narrow comeback victory, with the Bay of Plenty Steamers in action at the Tauranga Domain, less than twenty-four hours later.

The inaugural NPC national champions (in 1976), couldn’t have had a much harder start to their 2023 NPC campaign, with Auckland paying a visit to the Tauranga Domain.

We have seen it all before - with the Bay leading 17-3 at halftime, only for the Aucks to come storming back to grab the match honours. This time it was a converted touchdown on full time that saw the visitors take out a 32-30 victory.

However the Steamers showed more than enough flair in their first outing of the season to say that they could be playoff contenders.

There is usually no bigger game each year than the annual fixture with Waikato. Next Saturday sees a match-up with the Steamers fiercest rivals, when the Mooloo men from over the hill, arrive to play at Steamers headquarters.

The standout Steamers win over Waikato over the decades, was their sole defence of the Ranfurly Shield, in 2004. After taking the 'Log of Wood's from Auckland with a 33-28 victory, the Bay side repelled the Waikato challenge 26-20, before losing the big prize to Canterbury.

Here's something to think about. What is the logic in upgrading the Tauranga Domain at a proposed cost of $180 million, when the supposed key attraction in the Bay of Plenty Steamers, only attracted a couple of thousand or so spectators last Sunday.