Rugby: Wellington still seen as a threat

Wellington had their NPC rugby form neatly assessed from an unlikely quarter yesterday, with the coach of their next opponent rating their performance against North Harbour as "the worst I've seen from anyone in the past seven years of NPC."

Counties Manukau coach Andrew Talaimanu, obviously tongue in cheek, suggested Counties used to get more ball to Jonah Lomu than Wellington have managed.

"So maybe you can lend him back to us on Sunday?"

Those words could be mana from heaven for a Wellington side starting to try to put things right after Saturday's dreadful 7-24 loss to North Harbour.

Counties, after their 32-30 win over Waikato, now loom as a big hurdle for Wellington.

"But I'm sure Wellington will want to play better than they did last week. That would probably be the worst performance I've seen in the last seven years of the NPC - by any team. They didn't look like they wanted to play," Talaimanu said.

"So they will be a dangerous proposition this week. They're a much better team than that, with some of the best players in the world. Jonah's one of them and it will be a big game for him, but we've got 14 other Wellington players to worry about as well."

The Wellington team met on Monday. All players were given the opportunity - and apparently took it - to talk about the deteriorating season and what they could do to put it right.

There now seems likely to be a "tinkering" with the controversial game plan, rather than a total change.

"I think the meeting sorted quite a few things out," coach David Rennie said. "A lot of the players spoke. They had the same sort of theme - that we were letting ourselves down, that we weren't urgent and that we weren't honest.

"What we're trying to achieve is to get go-forward ball, and we're not getting that, and because of that we can't get anything going in the backs."

Rennie said good ruck ball and go-forward ball could still be won by four forwards against the whole lot, but it needed commitment "to make an impact when you arrive."

"Regardless of what pattern we go with we still have to hit rucks and mauls in numbers - and quickly. The cleanout hasn't been effective, and that's a key area."

Rennie said the players were embarrassed by their North Harbour effort and wanted to regain the respect of the Wellington public, of other sides in the competition, and their own self-respect.

He denied there was any player opposition to the game plan.

Rennie did not rule out tight forward changes, but denied any possibility of a captaincy change at this stage.

Fullback Christian Cullen's injured shoulder has improved and he looks more likely to play.

- NZPA