Former All Black captain Anton Oliver has vowed to regain his hooker's berth after he was dropped from the New Zealand Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup squad yesterday.
"There's been well over 1,000 All Blacks over time and most of them would have been dropped at some stage," he said. "I spent half an hour moping around a bit, but I picked myself up with a couple of cups of tea."
Oliver, a veteran of 41 tests and captain until a ruptured Achilles tendon wrecked his 2002 season, said an All Black would not be an All Black if he took a setback by "sitting down on the couch with a bag of potato crisps and blob in front of the television".
Oliver is replaced in the 26-man squad by Mark Hammett.