League: Kiwis not yet hitting their straps

Coach Brian McClennan expects the Kiwis to be hitting their straps by the time the first of their two Tri-Nations tests against Great Britain comes around.

The Kiwis, the defending champions, lost the tournament opener to Australia in Auckland on Saturday night and face a rematch with the Kangaroos in Melbourne next weekend.

Great Britain make their entry into the series the weekend after that against New Zealand in Christchurch.

During last week's build-up, McClennan had said the Kiwis were underdone, with most of their players not having had game time for six weeks.

After the 30-18 defeat at Mt Smart Stadium, he repeated his view that they would get better match by match during the seven-week tournament.

He had seen plenty during a physical encounter to give him encouragement, he said.

"Our unity showed and our spirit showed," he said.

"We can improve our attack and we can improve our defence. The Australians are a pretty classy side and they asked a lot of questions of us, but I'm pretty happy with our performance."

McClennan said it had been good to get the tournament under way so his players could get greater familiarity with their combinations.

"The Australians have come off a wonderful State of Origin series where their pivots could learn each other's style of play," he said.

"They have Cameron Smith, Darren Lockyer, Johnathan Thurston and Karmichael Hunt who have all played together. We don't have that luxury."

Smith, Lockyer, Thurston and Hunt, who occupy the key positions of hooker, five-eighth, halfback and fullback, were all members of Queensland's victorious State of Origin side this year.

McClennan described the opening test as "a good blowout" for the Kiwis and they would lift for next weekend.

"By the time we get to Christchurch, we should be somewhere near our best."

In the rematch with the Kangaroos, McClennan wanted more variety on attack and tighter defence around the ruck.

As for the wayward passes that the Australians capitalised on to score two of their five tries, McClennan was philosophical.

"It's going to happen," he said.

"We were a bit rusty. Both sides' completion rates were not the best.

"In test matches, it's a lot more physical and there's going to be a few more turnovers."

In Melbourne, the Kiwis will welcome the rest of their British contingent -- Bradford centre Shontayne Hape, St Helens prop Jason Cayless and Hull utility Motu Tony.

The three have been involved in the latter stages of the British Super League playoffs, which finished early yesterday with St Helens' victory over Hull in the grand final.

Second rower David Kidwell, one of the senior members of the squad, agreed that the defence up the middle needed to be more secure next weekend.

"Probably around the ruck it needs to be a bit tighter," he said.

"We need to win the ground battle. Sometimes we got a bit loose and they got their roll on."

He saw only a partial positive in the way the Kiwis hung in during the second spell after the halftime score of 20-6 suggested the Kangaroos would romp to a big victory.

"We can take some sort of satisfaction out of that, but at the end of the day we still lost the game."

But, like his coach, Kidwell was confident the Kiwis would get better over the remainder of the tournament.

"You cannot beat match fitness," he said.

"When these guys gets their match fitness, look out."

- NZPA