Rokocoko loses zip

NZPA - Saturday, September 19, 2009 5:31 PM

All Blacks coach Graham Henry has conceded that Joe Rokocoko has been cut a bit of slack as he continues to hold his place in the test team despite mixed form.

"Yeah probably," was Henry's answer to that suggestion as the Auckland wing held off the obvious appeal of Hosea Gear to start tonight's Tri-Nations finale against the Wallabies in Wellington.

Henry said the selectors were "pretty tempted" by Gear's attributes that include a truckload of tries for Wellington "but we decided that was the best way to go".

So Rokocoko gets another lifeline when others haven't been so lucky.

Rokocoko has started seven of the eight tests this year and been on the bench for the other despite some obvious struggles with his game.

He has saved his position with a couple of outstanding displays for Auckland between tests but hasn't been able to replicate that in an often dysfunctional All Blacks backline.

Henry and backs coach Wayne Smith have kept faith in Rokocoko who has scored 44 tries in his 59 tests, believing he his tracking in the right direction.

"His form has got better. It's been a work in progress for a long time," said Henry. He made one mistake in the weekend and they (South Africa) scored from it. That has been highlighted - he also did some bloody good things in the game.

"He's been an outstanding test footballer in the past and he is getting better this season than when he started. So he's making real strides and we are hoping to get the footballer back that we started with. We are just hoping that he finds the right button."

It seems Rokocoko has been doing just enough each week to convince the selectors to keep him. He will have had some serious nerves this week when the expected changes to the All Blacks resulted in seven alterations yet the 26-year-old kept his place.

Cory Jane came on to the other wing to replace the injured Sitiveni Sivivatu and it's a fair assumption that the All Blacks were keen to keep Rokocoko's experience.

There's a theory doing the rounds that Rokocoko has lost some of his zip because he has bulked up.

Henry said there was nothing intentional in the wing's changing body shape and believed "that's probably cultural rather than anything else".

"I go back to my old mate Inga Tuigamala. I had him at school and he was the best footballer I ever saw but he was probably 80 or 85kg. He had brilliant feet, he was just electric," said Henry.

"When he played for the All Blacks he was 100kg. But he was still a good test player and he became one of the top professional rugby league players in the world.

"His body type changed as he got older and Polynesia and Melanesian gentlemen do that.

"You couldn't call Joe Rokocoko fat ... he's a big man. But he doesn't overdo the weights either. That's just what he's like. I just think it's the aging process.