Kidwell made the tough decision following drug allegations against the pair in Canberra after last Friday night’s 30-12 defeat by Australia and believes the move has sent a clear message to players of what is required when they represent New Zealand.

The move follows comments by Kidwell at the post-match press conference that he would only select players for the World Cup who would honour the Kiwis jersey, and he singled out Simon Mannering and Russell Packer as two who had earned their spots.

Until the incident at 5am Saturday morning there had never been any questions about Bromwich or Proctor, and Kidwell said he had been shocked to learn there had been any trouble after the pair reported to an 8am recovery session.

“I was surprised and when it sunk in I was gutted,” he said.

“These two are good men who have clearly made a bad decision and it was out of character but there is a bigger picture here and for me going into a World Cup campaign I want to make sure that everyone understands that we have got values to uphold.

“These guys weren’t rookies, they were senior players and they knew that they had made a bad decision so I had to take that into account and at the end of the day the integrity in that jersey and the values that we uphold was the most important thing.”

Kidwell phoned Bromwich and Proctor to tell them of his decision and he said both were upset but felt he had no choice.

“I was really gutted but I had to look at the integrity of the jersey and the values that we are trying to build here, and they broke that trust and they put the integrity of that jersey on the line,” Kidwell said.

“We have values to uphold, and I can’t express enough that they have broken my trust, their teammates' trust and the trust of the New Zealand public.

By Brad Walter | @BradWalterSport
Chief Correspondent, RLWC2017