Richard Loe: Holah shouldn't be riding wooden donkey

I think it was great that the All Black selectors released so many players back into the NPC but I reckon they could do more yet.

Obviously they had a change of heart about this rotation and rest policy after Cape Town.

I guess when you are winning everything, you can pretty much do what you want. But when you have a loss like that, it can change your thinking.

All you have to do is look at the form of the All Blacks who have come back to the NPC without much rugby. Like Conrad Smith. He's a good player, everyone agrees, but he looked as if his game against North Harbour on Friday was his first of the season.

Contrast that with Greg Somerville, who had those tests when Carl Hayman was injured and who has been used off the bench for a good slice of the last two tests in the Tri Nations.

Somerville had a good game against Bay of Plenty in the Shield challenge and looked sharp.

I'm afraid match time is essential. I think it was Sione Lauaki who was talking about the physical state of training in the All Black camp and how it was almost like playing a match. Well, it isn't. I have been in some very tough All Black training sessions but nothing - nothing - prepares you for playing rugby like playing rugby.

It just allows you to get into that rhythm and the groove of the game and hardens you much more than training ever can.

It will be very interesting to see how Lauaki goes in Waikato's match against Southland today as he hasn't had much game time lately, either.

But perhaps the worst example of not playing is Marty Holah. He stayed on in Sydney for a day or two after the test last weekend and was late getting back to Waikato for this weekend's game. So Warren Gatland selected him on the bench.

Now, I think that is poor on Holah's side and poor on the NZRU's side. Holah has been mentioned as one who might head overseas so you would think there would be a real urge on both sides to get him to play 80 minutes of rugby, rather than stay in Sydney and go to Manly beach or whatever.

I mean, I think Holah needs to be asked to play 80 minutes of rugby just to prove his worth again. He hasn't played much lately but, with Richie McCaw's style of play and injury record, every time out is potentially his last.

That means his back-up needs to be battle-hardened too, in the same way Greg Somerville is and Conrad Smith isn't right now. Marty Holah should be playing as much rugby as possible, not riding the wooden donkey at Invercargill.

As for the NPC, I thought there have been some interesting matches so far but no one has really hit their straps yet. Canterbury won well in the end yesterday but, for about the first 15 minutes of the second half, there was a sense that it could have gone either way if Canterbury hadn't found their feet.

Those Bay boys play it hard and contest vigorously and it made me think of their match against the Lions - they just didn't have Lady Luck and maybe the skills to push their advantage home.

Wellington look like they are missing some of the players they had in the Super 12 - Andrew Hore, for one. They had a real problem in the lineouts with the hookers and some of the Wellington players we all expected to fire didn't fire.

As for Auckland, they are looking better so far but it is really too early to pick the top teams yet.