Rugby Union: Henry Slams Tourists Over Weak Squads

New Zealand's coach, Graham Henry, yesterday condemned the Six Nations countries who have sent weakened sides on tour to the southern hemisphere, claiming they had brought the sport into disrepute. The All Blacks face France's reserves in Auckland on Saturday, England are in South Africa with hardly any first-choice players, Wales left behind 18 of their Six Nations squad when they departed for Australia and Ireland have taken a second-string to Argentina.

"The management and administration of the international game need to get their heads together and make sure there is a clear direction for the future because this must not happen again," said Henry. "To have the French semi-finals and final taking place on the next two Saturdays is organizational chaos. The International Rugby Board needs to lead strongly and work with the clubs in Europe to make sure that we preserve this great game.

"At the moment there are not many signs of that. When we went to France last November we took our strongest available team. We are holding up our end of the bargain, showing a lot of integrity and putting the international game first. People need to think about that because it is not a good situation at the moment."

The board of European Rugby Cup Ltd meets in Dublin today for the first time since the future of the Heineken Cup was saved after threatened pull-outs by the leading clubs in France and England. The six nations who run the tournament have agreed a new accord for it to run until 2012, though the clubs have asked for that to be extended by at least three years.

New Zealand Maori will meet the Saxons, England's shadow side, in the final of the Churchill Cup at Twickenham on Saturday after comfortably beating Ireland A 50-22 in Exeter last night. Tamati Ellison scored 18 points for the winners.