ANZ Cup has Black complexion
Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:03
All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith has revealed that all contracted All Black players will be released to play in New Zealand's premier domestic competition, the Air New Zealand Cup.
Smith told Yahoo!Xtra that the New Zealand administrators were looking to free the national players for provincial duty in the Air New Zealand Cup.
However, the players doing duty for New Zealand in the Tri-Nations would only be released to play for their provinces after the Tri-Nations was completed, depending on fitness and injuries.
"They will all play some Air New Zealand Cup. At which point is yet to be determined," Smith said.
"In the past we have looked at how much footy they play.
"They have to have a rest through the season, a wee bit of a break. Then they go back to the Air New Zealand Cup.
"Normally it has been on a planned basis. If a player is suffering a niggly injury or if a player has played every game, obviously player welfare is important."
Last year's Tri-Nations was shortened to accommodate the World Cup in France, but this year's tournament will once again be structured over a period of ten weeks, with the final match, between Australia and New Zealand, scheduled for September 13.
That format has meant longer periods between certain matches, and for this reason New Zealand have scheduled a midweek clash against Manu Samoa, to be played on September 3 in New Plymouth.
Smith explained that this match was of great importance for the All Blacks squad.
"There are four weekends between the last two Tri-Nations games," Smith said.
"We thought it would be really helpful if we had a game for our core group of players in the middle of that.
"The Air New Zealand Cup is on and some players will be able to play in that. But the core will need something before that last Bledisloe Cup game to really get on top of it.
"I think it will be good for Samoa. We owe them a lot obviously as a nation. They contribute a hell of a lot of our best players over the year.
"It is good to be able to play games against them and I think it is good for the Naki to take a Test match there.
"It is going to be fairly popular and it takes it to the grassroots of New Zealand. Hopefully it will be seen as a positive initiative."
