12 Aug 2009

Rugby hierarchy putting plenty of pressure on Wellington to play All Blacks

6:39 pm on 12 August 2009

The rugby hierarchy's putting plenty of pressure on Wellington coach Jamie Joseph to reverse his decision and play his All Blacks in this weekend's round of provincial rugby.

All Blacks coach Graham Henry is seemingly far from happy over Joseph's decision to leave Cory Jane, Neemia Tialata and Piri Weepu and Rodney So'oialo out of the Wellington starting lineup to play Bay of Plenty.

A dozen All Blacks have have been released to play for their provinces before their next Tri-Nations outing on Saturday week against Australia.

Joseph says including the international players will disrupt his side, as they're not around long enough before returning to All Black duty.

That's hardly met with Henry's approval given his response at today's All Black training session in Auckland where he said the matter was being worked through the appropriate channels but refused to say anything more on the matter.

At training Henry had the side focusing on lineout and taking high kicks which have been particular areas of concern in recent tests.

Piri Weepu limped off with an ankle injury but maintains he'll be right for the Wallabies test.