Brooke side

THE BROOKE brothers, Zinzan and Robin, turn out together today for New Zealand in their final pool C match against Japan in Bloemfontein.

Zinzan, the 30-year-old No.8, has not played for five weeks because of an injured Achilles tendon while second row Robin, 28, has been recovering from a strained calf muscle.

The two star All Blacks of the tournament so far, flanker Josh Kronfeld and wing Jonah Lomu, are both rested in favour of Paul Henderson and Eric Rush. Henderson takes over the captaincy in the absence of Sean Fitzpatrick, who ends his record run of 63 consecutive tests.

"This is a very experienced team," said the coach Laurie Mains. "There is no question about the strength of it as an All Black team." The new players include the fly-half Simon Culhane.

Two Argentines, fly-half Diego Dominguez and wing Mario Gerosa, play for Italy against their compatriots at East London in the game which will decide who finishes bottom of pool B.