KEY POINTS:
Sean Fitzpatrick has criticised the failures in this season's Super 14 competition and suggested that New Zealand rugby lacks the depth for a fifth side in the competition.
Targeting the Otago-based Highlanders, the former All Black captain said: "It doesn't look as though they're good enough. It doesn't seem as though the players are there for a fifth New Zealand provincial team."
The South African sides also came in for severe criticism from the man who won 92 test caps from 1986 to 1997 and easily holds the record for the most tests as All Blacks captain, 51.
Fitzpatrick watched the Lions' 38-12 hammering by the Hurricanes in Wellington last weekend and launched a savage attack on the South African players.
He said: "It's pretty disappointing to see the Lions perform like this. Those guys should be handing back their pay cheques after this performance.
"We always used to fear the old Transvaal when we went there and played them. More so, in fact, than any other province. So it's pretty disappointing to see them like this. It was a poor performance."
- INDEPENDENT
