Wynne Gray: Let's hope lessons have been learned

New Zealand Rugby Union president Bryan Williams. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Eight men who have worn the famed blue-and-black Ponsonby rugby stripes have played in World Cups.

Their framed images hovered above the clubroom setting for yesterday's official announcement of this year's squad as one of their number, Ali Williams, was introduced for his third tournament.

One of the club's most famous sons, Bryan Williams, who is also the New Zealand Rugby Union president, opened proceedings that were probably a little restrained after the 25-20 weekend defeat to the Wallabies.

There was also some underlying anxiety from the squad about the fate of absent loose forward colleagues Kieran Read and Adam Thomson, who were injured in that Tri-Nations loss. Read damaged his ankle and Thomson injured his elbow.

Both flew to the Christchurch base of team doctor Deb Robinson for specialist imaging and assessment. Their fate is expected to be made public today.

The made-for-TV appearance at Ponies' headquarters at Western Springs, was a chance for the All Blacks to assist their sponsorship partners after being offshore when IRB rules insisted the team had to be revealed.

The first unveiling came last week in Brisbane after the travel-weary squad disembarked from their gruelling trip to South Africa.

They'd had little sleep again yesterday, touching down at Auckland Airport after midnight and then hauling themselves into their central city hotel before their World Cup obligations.

Their minds were still whirring about what went wrong in Brisbane and coach Graham Henry admitted he was battling with sleep deprivation.

"The next eight weeks will define this team," he told the audience.

His side may have lost some of their focus with the group split into several parts to deal with the demands of games in Port Elizabeth then their final Tri-Nations test in Brisbane. But now the side has one goal.

Henry said they felt privileged to play at home in front of their supporters and were determined to do well in the tournament.

Henry, his assistants and the players had learned a great deal from the last World Cup in France where they focussed on one game at a time instead of the whole campaign. He was certain they had learned from their mistakes.

Captaining a tournament team was not too different from leading them into other tests, captain Richie McCaw told the audience. He said he had to get his game in order first and that would help the team. He would also lean on the other senior players to help drive the side.

"Hopefully whatever we get chucked at us we will have an answer for," he said. "Now this is it and we have got to do it all dead right. That is the lesson."

Ponies' eight World Cuppers - Mark Brooke-Cowden, Joe Stanley, Craig Innes, Va'aiga Tuigamala, Carlos Spencer, Olo Brown, Ben Atiga and Ali Williams - would have nodded.