Moi Moi out for Kiwis, Asotasi rejected again

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Kiwis hit reject button on Asotasi

FORMER Test prop Mark Carroll claims loyalty in New Zealand rugby league is dead after former captain Roy Asotasi was snubbed by selectors for the second time in a week.

A shock omission from the Kiwis' 24-man Four Nations squad named last Tuesday, Asotasi was again overlooked yesterday following the late withdrawal of Eels prop Fuifui Moimoi with a broken arm.

The Souths captain is in the midst of the greatest challenge of his career at both club and international level.

Instead of offering Asotasi a belated recall, New Zealand officials plucked little-known Penrith prop Sam McKendry from obscurity.

McKendry, 21, has played 27 games for the Panthers.

"I don't know what the go is because his form over the last four weeks of the season was tremendous," Carroll said of Asotasi.

"He's come back from a knee reconstruction this year and I thought he'd really found some form in the back half of the season.

"I don't know mate, loyalty in Australia is a lot different to the Kiwis. We're a bit different.

"Things are a bit crook when you go from captain to not even making the squad. When would that happen here?

"Maybe they're going for youth and maybe Souths not making the top eight this year hurt him."

Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney said the decision to overlook Asotasi was a contentious one.

"It was a very tough call," Kearney said. "He wasn't too far off the mark, but for me it was always a matter of picking the best side available. I'll talk to him again in mid-November about what will help him going forward."

Rejection by the Kiwis isn't the only challenge facing Asotasi, with South Sydney chief executive Shane Richardson forced to back the 28-year-old to remain club captain.The Sunday Telegraph has learned that influential figures at Redfern have raised the prospect of appointing a new skipper.

Sam Burgess, who is considered a future England captain, would be the front-runner for the position if Asotasi lost the job.

It has also been suggested Asotasi could stand down from the captaincy in a bid to return to the form of two seasons ago, when he was rated the game's best prop.

"Roy Asotasi is captain for next season, end of story," Richardson said. "I can't be any more clear."

The call for change emerged after the Rabbitohs failed to make the finals for a third straight year.

"We're disappointed for Roy that he hasn't made the Kiwi side, but from a South Sydney point of view, it means our captain will be fresh and ready for a big year in 2011," Richardson said.

Source: The Daily Telegraph

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Mckendry Called Into Kiwis For Injured Moimoi

Penrith prop Sam McKendry was last night called into the Kiwis' Four Nations squad after Parramatta front rower Fuifui Moimoi was ruled out with a broken arm.

Team doctor Simon Mayhew said Moimoi (31) would be sidelined for at least six weeks after scans revealed a fracture high up the radius in his right arm.

Mayhew said Moimoi had complained of pain near his right elbow. He was sent for scans with results being returned only yesterday on the eve of the Kiwis assembling in Auckland (on Saturday) to prepare for their one-off Test against Samoa next Saturday (October 16) and the Four Nations to follow.

With Moimoi ruled out, the national selectors immediately called in McKendry (21), a player Kiwi coach Stephen Kearney rated unlucky to miss selection initially. He was named yesterday in the New Zealand Maori team to face England in next Saturday's curtain-raiser to the Kiwis' Test against Samoa at Mount Smart Stadium.

McKendry, 188cm and 115kg, played in all of Penrith's 26 games this year after making his debut last season, his only appearance in 2009.

He's due to arrive in Auckland at 2.45pm today (Saturday) with other Kiwi players based in Australia.

McKendry's selection gives the Kiwis three new players in their 23-man squad after Lewis Brown and Antonio Winterstein were named in the original team on Tuesday.

The Kiwis will initially be based at the Millennium Institute on the North Shore ahead of the Samoa international, the first-ever Test between the two countries. The Kiwis' Four Nations encounters are against England at Westpac Stadium in Wellington (October 23), Papua New Guinea at the International Stadium in Rotorua (October 30) and Australia at Eden Park in Auckland (November 6). The match against the Kangaroos is the second half of a doubleheader kicking off with England facing Papua New Guinea. The Four Nations final is scheduled for Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on November 13.

Tickets for the Four Nations games in New Zealand and Australia are on sale now (go to www.nzrl.co.nz for more information). Tickets for the Test against Samoa are also on sale.

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