Hurricanes winger Ben Lam was on the verge of selection for the All Blacks' squad to face France next month, and should consider himself unlucky, coach Steve Hansen said.
Super Rugby's leading try scorer in 2018, Lam was overlooked in favour of Rieko Ioane, Wisake Naholo and Nehe Milner-Skudder for next month's series, with Hansen explaining the decision process to media today.
"Obviously (Lam was) really close," he said.
"Ben Lam's having an outstanding season, but people around the country have told us you've got to pick so-and-so, and so-and-so, and I go who do you want us to leave out, and there's always a deathly silence.
"We don't want to leave anybody out, but unfortunately that's our job."
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