Tired players allowed a break

BIARRITZ - The New Zealand A rugby side relished their "court session" yesterday after their 33-21 win against the champion French Universities side in Bayonne.

Some, however, may not be enjoying the aftermath today after an inventive team session when the players went into brief party mode to start the 10-day hiatus before their test against Romania in Bucharest on November 26.

After a rugged three games in nine days, and travel from northern France to Wales and back to southern France yesterday, the management decided the squad needed a few days' blowout before they travel to Romania next week.

The itinerary has been as disjointed as the matches, and yesterday's at Bayonne was another messy game in which NZ A scored three tries to two, with David Holwell stretching the margin with an impeccable seven goals from seven attempts.

"We are seeing the effects of guys playing from late January until the end of November," assistant coach Steve Hansen said. "I think you see the problems even more with young players. They go well for 15 to 20 minutes, then the tanks are emptied and they have a breather, and then go again."

The coaching staff were happier with this victory, pointing out that it would have been more marked except for a late University interception try which kept the pressure on. The French side have won the Universities World Cup for the last two times and presented another formidable forward challenge for the smaller but more athletic NZ A pack.

Initially, the French gained some scrum advantage, but a few words to tighthead prop Carl Hayman, who turned 21 on the day before the game, and the NZ A scrum countered strongly after the break.

"We made a few techical improvements which a lot of people might not have seen, but Carl was a good example of that here," Hansen added.

Hayman also featured prominently in open play, as did Justin Collins, while Hansen applauded replacement lock Royce Willis for his impact.

Halfback Jason Spice and his Hurricanes team-mate Holwell directed the backs soundly, while Scott McLeod was solid and Caleb Ralph - in preparation for his trip to link up as cover with the All Blacks - made several significant runs.

A couple of promising backline moves were undone by sloppy passes, and another was called back by Scottish referee Rob Dickson for interference, which only he understood.

As coach Robbie Deans lamented, if referees were going to pull up basic double-round movements as obstruction, then the little space available in the game now would be even further eroded.

McLeod began the first NZ A try with a neat grubber which required courage from Mils Muliaina in the chase to beat the challenge of the University fullback.

Holwell turned a neat inside pass to Collins from a scrum move for the second, before the speedy Ralph scored a late solo try from turnover ball.

After a few days rest and recreation, which began with a court session run by the dangerous duo of Spice and Tony Brown, the coaching staff will have to decide on their best XV for Romania.

Tough choices will be at loose forward, where they have to decide whether to include Wellington youngster Jerry Collins, and which two of the locks, captain Glenn Taylor, Dion Waller and Royce Willis, will start.

Brown should be available after his shoulder injury and Mark Robinson had a very strong first game, but Spice and Holwell have been a solid pairing.

"This whole trip has been about growing people's performances and if we can go home with a group who have experienced the difficulties of touring and have learned where they can improve on the way, then we will have made progress," Hansen said.

Then he, too, was off to the in-house party. He, Deans and the management needed to thaw out away from rugby for a day or so.

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