Lauaki 'down' but not out

Sione Lauaki: In action against Northland... Waikato lost 18-10

Sione Lauaki has admitted his hurt at being dropped from the All Blacks squad after a poor performance against the Wallabies in Sydney last weekend.

Lauaki paid the price for his error-ridden performance in an All Black jersey when he replaced Daniel Braid in the second half of the Bledisloe Cup/Tri-Nations encounter.

In previous Tests this year, the Chiefs' hardman has been used as an impact player by coach Graham Henry to great effect - scoring on two occasions at crucial moments against England and South Africa.

But Lauaki failed to stamp his authority for his team at ANZ Stadium with ball in hand - knocking on several times and failing to contribute anything at the breakdown or the tackle points. At one point, Australia bagged a drop-goal off quick turnover with Lauaki in possesion.

He not only rightfully copped a universal bagging for that effort full of inaccuracies in Sydney but on Tuesday he got dropped from the matchday 22 for the return match by the All Blacks selectors as a result.

But life goes on for the Waikato number eight, who showed it was premature to write him off as an All Black in Thursday's opening Air New Zealand Cup match against Northland.

Lauaki had come off a nightmare performance off the bench for New Zealand to make a lot more impact from the reserves' bench for Waikato at Okara Park - even if it did result in another upset loss.

"Being dropped from the All Blacks was really disappointing but I had a few goals I wanted to achieve (against Northland) and I thought I did that by being strong with the ball in hand," Lauaki told the Waikato Times.

"I think I lost the ball once, which wasn't good, but I can't really keep beating myself up.

"I've just got to keep my head up and not really worry about what people say."

Lauaki admitted to being "down" after being told he was dropped but said he had to take it on the chin and move on and tried to make the most of a last-minute joining of the Waikato squad, replacing Jordan Smiler on the bench.

"It was a late change for the guys in the Waikato squad who have prepared for this game and I feel for them but I just need game-time and sitting on the bench gets pretty boring," said Lauaki.

Lauaki said he just wanted to play week in, week out and get some consistent form.

While he was reluctant to give himself high marks for Thursday's performance, he was happy with his running game but felt his workrate could have been higher, even though he was trying to fit into team patterns he had never been privy to, having yet to attend a Waikato training session.

Lauaki said he would rejoin the All Blacks camp in Auckland, while his team-mates bused back to Hamilton.

Waikato coach Tony Hanks said if it was Lauaki's running game that he needed to work on then he had nailed it.

"I think he can go away with a really good pass mark as far as the All Blacks are concerned," said Hanks.

"He was accurate, he was always a threat, there were three or four guys on him all the time, he still delivered good ball and he scored a crucial try for us.

"It was good having him back in the fold and he showed just how good he can be."