Rugby: All Blacks train at Mount Maunganui

All Blacks Sitiveni Sivivatu and Piri Weepu are starting to see the fruits of their labour under taskmaster Gordon Tietjens, although Richard Kahui's participation in the All Blacks' early season rugby test programme has been thrown into doubt after he limped out of a session with the New Zealand sevens coach Tietjens yesterday at Mount Maunganui with a hamstring injury.

All Blacks coach Graham Henry's concern over the weight and fitness levels of All Blacks halfback Weepu and wing Sivivatu saw them packed off to Tauranga for a gut-busting session with Gordon Tietjens at Blake Park.

Both rugby players struggled to keep pace during two sessions the sevens guru had with the national squad in Wellington and All Blacks trainer Nic Gill was on hand yesterday to track the pair's progress via GPS during the lung-searing two-hour session.

Gordon Tietjens brought in extra players from the Inside Running and Bay of Plenty rugby academies, with Richard Kahui also heading over from Hamilton with Sitiveni Sivivatu to sharpen his skills.

The Chiefs centre, who has fought back from a third shoulder reconstruction, probably wished he'd stayed at home though, lasting just an hour before injuring his left hamstring.

Sitiveni Sivivatu and Piri Weepu plugged on, making up ground they lost after injury-interrupted Super Rugby seasons, with Weepu in particular impressing Gordon Tietjens with the gains he's made in the past few weeks after stacking on the kilos recovering from a broken ankle.

"Richard Kahui's pretty fit and really only came over to sharpen," Gordon Tietjens said, "but the other two boys certainly need all the work they can get right now because they're down on training and playing time. Piri's improved lots in the past few weeks and put in some hard work again today, although Siti's still got a few kilos to shed," Tietjens said of the 43-test veteran who, with Cory Jane, Ben Smith and Wyatt Crockett, has been tacked onto the end of the All Blacks Tri-Nations squad as injury cover.

"It's clear Siti's got to get there yet and I feel it's mental as well as physical with him right now. I've encouraged him to really dig it in because he's been given a lifeline with some injuries and has to keep doing this sort of work."

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Photo: (From left) Piri Weepu, Richard Kahui and Sitiveni Sivivatu try to impress sevens legend Gordon Tietjens (with whistle) during a gruelling fitness session at Blake Park - by Mark McKeown.