All Blacks head coach Ian Foster says the squad announced this morning was mostly decided before last night's North v South match barring one undisclosed player, whose performance in last night's match sealed their selection in the side.
Foster says he was comfortable with 34 names in his 35-man squad before last night's match with only one player's selection in the side hinging on their performance in the inter-island game.
"We've been comfortable for a little while and last night was probably about one person," he said.
When asked whether he would disclose who the player was, Foster declined but suggested that their performance last night simply confirmed what they already knew abou the player.
"I think I'm being a bit mischevious but reality is we've had a pretty clear idea on what we're going with but the more information you gather the better so the North-South was a great occasion to put people in and it was really confirmation of what we expected to see."
All of the players named in this morning's squad announcement will now return to their respective Mitre 10 Cup squads where they will participate in the domestic season kicking off next week.
Despite the lack of clarity around the schedule this year, Foster says the Mitre 10 Cup experience will be beneficial to the players.
"We've talked to them this morning about how exciting it is to go back and play Mitre 10. It's a funny old thing being named as an All Black and then leaving that day and going into another environment but they've got some work to do in Mitre 10, from improving their game and when it's our turn to step up we'll get them together and hoe into it."
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