Two Bay of Plenty Steamers have been named in the All Blacks squad to contest this year's 2016 Investec Rugby Championship.

All Blacks selectors Steve Hansen, Ian Foster and Grant Fox have gone with the tried and true for the All Blacks side to contest this year's Rugby Championship, which includes Steamers players Sam Cane and Nathan Harris.

Sam Cane in action for the All Blacks. He and Nathan Harris have been named in the 32 man squad for this year's Rugby Championship. File photo.

The pair have been rewarded with their consistent form with a call up to the squad.

Coach Steve Hansen says Hurricanes outside back Nehe Milner-Skudder and Chiefs midfielder Charlie Ngatai weren't considered for selection due to injury.

However, Steve says he and his fellow selectors were happy with the squad combination they had come up with.

'The form of the players in Investec Super Rugby has been outstanding and whilst there is not a lot of change from the Steinlager Series squad, it was still a challenging team to select. It was more a case of who do we leave out, rather than who do we pick.”

He says the main goal for the squad is to win the championship but there are other things the squad are aiming for.

'One is to re-establish our team, from a leadership and playing point of view. The second goal is to grow the understanding and confidence of our newer players, both on and off the track and thirdly, we want to play a standard of rugby that we can all be proud of and excited by.”

Steve says the quality of the opposition the squad will face during the championship will require a growth in their physicality, intensity and the standard of the squad's preparation.

'It's going to be a very competitive championship, which we're all really looking forward to. By the end of the tournament, we'd expect to have a greater understanding of where the 32 individual players are at and their ability to cope and perform at test level.”

The 32 man squad will be lead once again by Kieran Read and Steve has gone with an 18 forwards/14 backs combination for the championships. Combined the squad has a total of 968 test caps between them.

It's made up of five Blues players, six Chiefs, five Hurricanes, nine Crusaders and seven Highlanders, while 12 of New Zealand's provinces are represented in the squad with eight Canterbury players, six Auckland, four Wellington, two each from Southland, Manawatu, Hawke's Bay, Taranaki, Bay of Plenty and one player each from Counties/Manukau, Waikato, Tasman and Otago.

The squad will assemble on Thursday for a two-day camp in Auckland, minus the five Hurricanes who are preparing for this weekend's Super Rugby final.

Following this week's camp the squad will reassemble in Auckland again next week to prepare for their first match in the championship against Australia which will double as a Bledisloe Cup clash in Sydney on August 20.

Forwards:

Hookers

Dane Coles (Wellington / Hurricanes, 39) Codie Taylor (Canterbury / Crusaders, 5) Nathan Harris (Bay of Plenty / Chiefs, 4)

Props

Wyatt Crockett (Canterbury / Crusaders, 48) Charlie Faumuina (Auckland / Blues, 36) Owen Franks (Canterbury / Crusaders, 80) Joe Moody (Canterbury / Crusaders, 14) Ofa Tu'ungafasi (Auckland / Blues, 1)

Locks

Brodie Retallick (Hawke's Bay / Chiefs, 50) Luke Romano (Canterbury / Crusaders, 24) Patrick Tuipulotu (Auckland / Blues, 9) Samuel Whitelock (Canterbury / Crusaders, 75)

Loose Forwards

Sam Cane (Bay of Plenty / Chiefs, 34) Elliot Dixon (Southland / Highlanders, 1) Jerome Kaino (Auckland / Blues, 69) Kieran Read, captain (Canterbury / Crusaders, 87) Ardie Savea (Wellington / Hurricanes, 2) Liam Squire (Tasman / Highlanders, 1)

Backs:

Halfbacks

Tawera Kerr-Barlow (Waikato / Chiefs, 21) TJ Perenara (Wellington / Hurricanes, 19) Aaron Smith (Manawatu / Highlanders, 50)

First five-eighths

Beauden Barrett (Taranaki / Hurricanes, 39) Aaron Cruden (Manawatu / Chiefs, 39) Lima Sopoaga (Southland / Highlanders, 2)

Midfielders

Ryan Crotty (Canterbury / Crusaders, 18) Malakai Fekitoa (Auckland / Highlanders, 15) George Moala (Auckland / Blues, 2) Sonny Bill Williams (Counties Manukau / Chiefs, 33)

Outside backs

Israel Dagg (Hawke's Bay / Crusaders, 51) Waisake Naholo (Taranaki / Highlanders, 6) Julian Savea (Wellington/ Hurricanes, 43) Ben Smith (Otago / Highlanders, 51)