All Blacks pick winger charged with injuring his wife in drunken assault

Sevu Reece has been picked by the All Blacks. Picture: Hannah Peters/Getty Images

Reece appeared in court last year charged with injuring his wife in a drunken assault. He escaped criminal conviction because a judge considered a conviction would have unduly affected his professional career.

Irish club Connacht tore up the contract they had signed with Reece but he was subsequently signed by Super Rugby champions the Crusaders. He topped the try-scoring list in Super Rugby this season.

In naming Reece in his squad, head coach Steven Hansen, a former policeman, said domestic violence “is not a gender.” He subsequently corrected that statement but said Reece had become a better person since his court appearance.

“As the season has gone on, he has just got better and better as a player,” Hansen said. “And as a person.

“We got interested enough to say ‘hey we need to keep looking at this guy’. And then it got past that point and we said ‘look, we are going to need to pick him’. Now we want to find out if he can take that next step. This game is the logical game to play him in.” Reece has impressive attacking ability but his defending is less assured.

The flanker Vaea Fifita, who was discarded last season, is back in the No 6 jersey after first choice Liam Squire turned down selection because injuries prevented him playing most of the season.

Ngani Laumape will start at inside centre beside Anton Lienert-Brown. The All Blacks took Sonny Bill Williams to Argentina while he was recovering from a hamstring injury but have decided he isn’t fit to play. Williams has played only a handful of minutes at any level in the past two years. His sending off in the second Test against the British and Irish Lions in 2017 cost the All Blacks the series.