Bird Still Has High NZ Hopes

New Zealand rugby are blessed with talented lock forwards like Sam Whitelock and Player of the Year Brodie Retallick, but Dominic Bird feels he has something to offer the All Blacks. 

The Crusaders second row isn’t hard to miss at 206cm but has endured a frustrating season for his side with such a strong stock of locks in place for head coach Todd Blackadder. 

Competing up against Whitelock and Luke Romano has made nailing down a starting slot a difficult task for Bird, who has won two Test caps for New Zealand against Japan and Scotland. 

Limited game time might hamper Bird’s best efforts to muscle his way into Steve Hansen’s thoughts for the World Cup squad, but he remains hopeful and will be going all out this weekend if he gets a chance off the bench against the Hurricanes. 

"It has been extremely frustrating, it has been a tough year. It is just the way things unfold, sometimes, and you have to take your chances when you get them,” Bird told Stuff. 

"It is looking tough at the moment but that (the World Cup) is still the goal. I really want to play in that and who knows what might happen. It has been frustrating - very frustrating. But the year is only half over."