Crotty and Smith in doubt for second test

Ryan Crotty and Ben Smith are the All Blacks’ two major injury worries from their big victory over the Lions last night, with midfielder Crotty possibly out for the series due to a hamstring strain.

Smith, who was unusually shaky under the high ball but showed up in other areas with his footwork and pace, failed a first-half concussion test and will have to follow returnto-play protocols before being considered for the second test in Wellington on Saturday.

He was replaced by Aaron Cruden, himself a doubt during the week following his recovery from a knee injury, and the little Chiefs first five-eighth acquitted himself well at Eden Park, with Beauden Barrett moving to fullback.

For Crotty, the injury, suffered late in the first half when he carried the ball into Lions territory, will be extremely disappointing.

The Crusaders player has only just recovered from a rib injury and looked sharp, but again the All Blacks lost nothing from their reserves bench — his replacement Anton Lienert-Brown was also very good.

Lienert-Brown will almost certainly start at Westpac Stadium, with Crotty’s Crusaders team-mate Jack Goodhue, with the squad as injury cover, a possibility to be named on the bench for his debut test.

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said: “We’ll try to get Ryan ready for the last test if we’re lucky.”

Cruden had been bracketed with Lima Sopoaga and was cleared only on Thursday.

“He’s like everybody in this team you have to prepare to play and we weren’t sure, but we were prepared to wait and give him the opportunity,” Hansen said of Cruden. “He showed us on Thursday and Fozzie [Ian Foster] was happy with him, so therefore I was happy. He came out and played a good game.”

Hansen, not normally one to single out players unprompted, said the performance of his captain and No 8 Kieran Read was worthy of special praise, given that it came

following a seven-week “holiday” with a broken thumb.

There was a reference to Richie McCaw’s captaincy from a media inquisitor, but it’s clear that Read stands on his own as a special leader in his own right.

“To be the All Black captain you’ve got to have a lot of character and courage and be a fierce warrior,” Hansen said. “Richie showed that over a number of years. There have been previous captains who have shown that, and now it’s Reado’s turn to lead the side.”

The skipper, who played for 75 minutes before going off to a standing ovation in some quarters, brushed off the accolades.

“I want to go out there and lead the team with my performance,” Read said. “[Last night] felt pretty good. I think what Steve said . . . it did take a lot of moments, that game . . . it could have gone either way.

“We showed guts and character to hang in there and when we got the opportunities in the second half, we took them.”

Lions coach Warren Gatland’s next assignment is to prepare his second-stringers for a match against the Hurricanes in Wellington on Tuesday, a match he said was a chance for others to press their claims for the weekend.

Gatland said: “They’ll see that as an opportunity and from my point of view, we’ll have to be more physical against the All Blacks.”