Weepu slams slow-coach Canes

Published: Thursday, 7. July, 2011 in category Southern Hemisphere

Piri Weepu's contract woes have been sorted, but that did not stop the All Black scrumhalf from having a go at the Hurricanes for stalling over a new Super Rugby contract.

In media reports Weepu suggested that he might move to the Blues.

However, his agent Bruce Sharrock on Thursday confirmed the Hurricanes had offered a contract that will keep Weepu with the Wellington-based franchise.

Weepu said earlier that although the Hurricanes had shown verbal interest, there had been nothing more concrete as he, Cory Jane, Hosea Gear and Aaron Cruden waited for a written contract.

"That's the only thing we've been waiting for, is to have everything put on paper. But it's taking a while and, like I said, it's been pretty frustrating having to wait for so long," he told The Dominion Post.

"If they're going to be making us feel like we're not [wanted] and having second thoughts, then obviously we want to look at the other options."

But Sharrock said that a "timing issue" had confused matters. He said he had spoken to Weepu on Wednesday, with nothing definite to report.

"Early in the evening [Wednesday] I received confirmation from the New Zealand Rugby Union on the Hurricanes' position and from the Wellington Rugby Union confirming their position," he told NZPA.

"I spoke to Piri, only to find he'd spoken to the media.

"He's a much happier chappy now. We've been talking about it for some time - discussions have been going on for weeks. I've told him they want him, and that's been the case."

Sharrock said franchises could negotiate contracts up to NZ0,000, but anything over that went through the NZRU - "they're the gatekeeper in terms of the upper level of players".

"In this new environment, a lot of these contracts are multi-faceted. There's a lot of components that go into them, so pulling them together is not always a swift process."