Adam Blair unleashes at Jason Taumalolo

New Zealand captain Adam Blair unleashed a scathing attack on Jason Taumalolo after he withdrew himself to join Tonga.

Blair spoke to NewstalkZB and his response wasn't pretty.

"You've got to be a man and own up to what you want to do," Blair told NewstalkZB.

"If you were man enough, you'd make the phone call and tell them.

"He could have told them a couple of weeks ago because I don't think it was a last-minute decision.

"Obviously this was something he was thinking about doing."

Blair also admitted trusting Taumalolo in the future won't be easy.

"At this stage, it feels like we've been let down a lot," he said.

"So do we let them back in the team?

"You're going to have to find some way to be able to trust them again but does that cause issues and problems that we don't need?"

The late withdrawal of Taumalolo has left the New Zealand World Cup bid in tatters, with the likes of Kieran Foran, Issac Luke, Tohu Harris, Kevin Proctor and Jesse Bromwich also missing.