Kiwi Test Squad named

New Zealand Kiwis coach Brian McClennan has announced a 21 man squad to prepare for next Saturday's opening test of the Gillette Tri-Nations series against Australia.

The squad assembled in Sydney on Friday and began the final part of their preparations for the test at Sydney's Telstra Stadium on Saturday afternoon with a full team training session at Parramatta Stadium.

McClennan admits he is impressed with the enthusiasm and attitude of the players that have assembled.

"It's good to see the sense of friendship and family the players have with each other," he said.

"It's like watching cousins and brothers meet up with each other.

"When you're all in the same hotel you get the chance to sit down with the players individually and spend time with all of them one on one.

"We're going spend a lot of our time together working on our team philosophy and building the team into a solid unit."

McClennan said he was happy to have such a big pool of talent to choose from.

"It's great having such talented players in the squad although it makes the job of selecting the test side tough, but that's not a bad thing," he said.

The Kiwis squad is: Louis Anderson, Roy Asotasi, Nathan Cayless, David Faiumu, Lance Hohaia, Stacey Jones, David Kidwell, Wairangi Koopu, Iafeta Palea'aesina, Frank Pritchard, Tony Puletua, Paul Rauhihi, David Solomona, Clinton Toopi, Motu Tony, Iosia Soliola, Nigel Vagana, Manu Vatuvei, Brent Webb, Paul Whatuira, Ruben Wiki.

KIWIS FANS CAN EMAIL THE TEAM AT kiwis@nzrl.co.nz

More info: www.tri-nations.com.au

Discussion: Tri-Nations Forum at http://forums.leagueunlimited.com/forumdisplay.php?f=130