KEY POINTS:
Jimmy Cowan's plight this week was the final glaring message All Blacks teammate Jerome Kaino needed to see he was veering in the wrong direction outside rugby.
A day after Southland halfback Cowan hogged national headlines with his remorse for three police charges of disorderly behaviour, Kaino had to relive his own recent alleged drunken incident for the first time publicly.
The 25-year-old Aucklander was last week charged with a minor alcohol-related driving offence and is to appear in court on July 14.
Kaino described his act as "a muck-up on my part" and was desperate to atone for his mistake and thank the selectors for not dropping him from the squad - something he had feared.
"There are a lot of kids out there and a lot of people that I've disappointed through my actions," he said.
"I'm just going out there to prove to them that I deserve to be in this team. It would mean a lot to me to put me in their good books."
Kaino had received a stern dressing down from All Blacks management upon returning to the team and was to meet them again later this month to discuss whether further action would be taken.
The New Zealand Rugby Union banned Cowan from drinking alcohol on Tuesday, fined him $3000 and asked him to undertake alcohol counselling.
Four-test No 8 Kaino said watching Cowan undergo such a public ordeal had rammed home the need for better discipline.
"It has hit home for a lot of us, especially myself, that you've got to get all parts of your life intact if you want to be an All Black and if you want to be successful in rugby," he said.
"We got told when we first joined the squad that a lot of this isn't acceptable. They've got zero tolerance for all of this.
"A lot of the guys have readjusted in what choices they make in the future.
"Following these two incidents, none of this will be tolerated any more."
Kaino, who was rested from New Zealand's last test, against England in Christchurch, had appreciated the support of his teammates this week and being able to focus on the Tri-Nations test against South Africa here on Saturday.
"It's good to forget about that (charge) for the meantime and just try to focus on some footy," he said.
"You can't have too much going on in your head when you've got the world champs to face at the weekend."
- NZPA
