Disgraced Wallaby ordered to undergo counselling

CAPE TOWN - Matt Henjak has been ordered to have counselling and to work out his priorities after being sent home in disgrace from the Wallabies' tour to South Africa.

Henjak, 23, the third-choice halfback, was heading home as the first Wallaby to be kicked off an international tour in 39 years following a nightclub drink-throwing incident in Cape Town early Thursday.

Coach Eddie Jones did not intimate Henjak's international career was in jeopardy after just three test appearances as a substitute, but did suggest yesterday that he had to get his house in order.

"I've had a couple of chats to Matt, he goes back to Australia now and is obviously feeling the brunt of the consequences of his actions," Jones said.

"It's up to him to do a few things that's been detailed to him. If he does that, then he becomes available for selection again.

"He needs to undergo some counselling - which he will do - and he needs to decide where his priorities lie.

"He just needs to make sure that his behaviour is appropriate all the times with the Wallabies."

Star wingers Lote Tuqiri and Wendell Sailor were fined and received suspended two-match sentences from a four-man team disciplinary committee for being out inappropriately late at the same bar, and prop Matt Dunning was fined.

The general manager of the nightclub, Martin Tucker, had said a number of the Australians were there "to the bitter end" at 4am.

The bigger picture for Jones and, more particularly the team, was why players were out drinking to such a time in the first place, two days before a test match.

The Australians were slow to get out of the blocks in the Mandela Plate test against the Springboks in Johannesburg and were generally listless in a 33-20 loss.

Jones would not attribute either the effects of the night or the potential distraction over the incident to the side's on-field malaise.

"I don't think it was a major distraction ... certainly we couldn't attribute any of our performance to what happened."

In the past Henjak's penalty, imposed by the team disciplinary committee, may have been seen as harsh, but after a nightclub incident involving Mat Rogers on the Wallabies' tour to Europe last November - in which he was exonerated by police and team management following an allegation of assault - the view from management was that it was time to get tough.

Henjak has admitted he was being "a little bit loud" and a "little bit silly" in the club when a couple of drinks got spilt and he threw the rest of the ice out of his drink, "not at anyone in particular, and it didn't hit anyone".

He said he would accept his punishment and work hard to get back into the Wallabies squad and earn the trust of his team-mates again.

Jones was riled most that the incident had happened in the lead-up to a test and that the players had been warned they would be particularly scrutinised in Australia.

"It's something they've got to be increasingly aware of," Jones said. "It was stressed very much and that's why it's very disappointing.

"We set high standards of behaviour - most of the players most of the time are extremely well behaved, and we see this as a hiccup in the system rather than a normal run of behaviour.

"All of the four guys involved are good people, they've got good characters and it's more the fact that they have made a bad choice on a particular night when they should have been more concerned about their preparation for the test."

- AAP