All Blacks Rodney So'oialo, Cory Jane and Hosea Gear have opted against taking two-weeks annual leave and have instead made themselves available for Wellington.

Lack of unity and the looseness of the Super 14 - two of the main culprits Gregor Paul found when he examined the state of health of our national game after the Tri Nations.

After starting slowly, Southland took a comfortable 14-6 victory over Counties Manukau in their Air NZ Cup rugby match last night.