All Blacks Rested Before RWC 2007 - AGAIN!!

All Blacks consider player ban
By Tony Curtis - Created on 12 Jul 2007


The All Blacks look set to block their World Cup-bound squad from playing in this season's Air New Zealand Cup.

New Zealand face a seven-week spell from the end of the Tri-Nations tournament until the start of their World Cup campaign on September 8 against Italy.

However, assistant coach Wayne Smith believes pre-tournament training camps and internal matches will help keep the 30-man squad sharp for their bid to reclaim the Webb Ellis Trophy.

He told the New Zealand Press Association: "We've road-tested this the last few years.

"We've gone from Tri-Nations to end-of-year tours, sometimes in the space of six or seven weeks, and played bloody well in those first couple of games because in our camp we've managed to have activities that are match-like in hardness.

"We seem to have got the mix right, that they've always hit the tour really fizzing."

New Zealand are set to announce their World Cup squad on July 22 - four days before the start of the Air New Zealand Cup - however an official announcement over player involvement in the domestic competition is expected at the end of the Tri-Nations.

Smith said: "We've just got to get through the next two weeks and then make some decisions on whether guys need rugby or not."

Go nuts fellas, why don't you rest them next weekend as well?

:lolup:

Why not wrap them all up in cottonwool and send them to the home of peace!
It is seriously mindboggling what is going on over the ditch.One word springs to mind..........choke.

Although.......is this really any different from the Wallabies NOT playing in the ARC.....????!!!!! Maybe it's a good spin from an Aussie journalist....or the NZ require a new PR agency.