Kaino relishes Samoa return

It’s been a while, so the temptation when it comes to Jerome Kaino is to view Friday’s first test of the year against Samoa as nothing more than a crucial loosener ahead of the real stuff just around the corner.

But that couldn’t be further from the truth when it comes to the mindset of the veteran All Blacks loose forward who hasn’t played a game of rugby in anger since the Blues’ April 15 Super Rugby defeat to the Hurricanes.

He suffered a meniscus tear in that match and had minor surgery soon after, leaving him on a tight timetable ever since to make it back for the series against the British and Irish Lions.

Given the once-in-a-career nature of that challenge (Kaino first toured with the All Blacks in ‘04, but didn’t make the ‘05 squad), you could be excused for thinking his sole focus was on proving his fitness for that special matchup.

But Kaino was more than happy to put that perception right when he spoke to the media in Auckland ahead of the All Blacks’ preparations for the Samoa test.

‘‘It will be a special game to be a part of,’’ he said of Friday’s Pasifika double-header at Eden Park, opened by the Wales-tonga test at 5.30pm.

‘‘Myself being Samoan, it’s always good to come up against them. We’ve got to give them a lot of respect.

‘‘I can’t look too far ahead to the Lions. Having six weeks out, to be involved in a test match this week against Samoa will be quite special. Fingers crossed I get the chance to run out and be part of that occasion.’’

He can lock it in. Coach Steve Hansen had the 77-cap Kaino at the top of his list of players who will benefit most from the match against the hard-hitting Samoans, with the only question to be answered whether he plays at his regular test spot of blindside flanker, or deputises for skipper Kieran Read at No 8.

Kaino is ready for whatever his coach needs. The knee is fine now. He walked out of the surgery and has been able to be fairly active on it ever since through a progressive rehab programme.

‘‘I’m sick of the watt bike and all those running sessions,’’ he said. ‘‘There’s no substitute for getting out and playing and I’m ready to get amongst it.’’ sweats with the sound of referee Mathieu Raynal’s whistle ringing in their heads, Hammett wasn’t about to fire a shot at the Frenchman.

‘‘We thought the other night the scrum was refereed pretty fairly,’’ Hammett said yesterday.

Since the match, which was riddled with scrum resets and featured Raynal heavily penalising the Crusaders’ scrum, the difference between the way northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere referees control scrums has been in the spotlight.

The Crusaders were a confused bunch after the match, while Lions coach Warren Gatland suggested Super Rugby teams pre-loaded at scrum time.

‘‘The law says there must be a small gap, but they don’t play to the laws of the game, so Super Rugby sides tend to scrummage illegally - if that’s the case,’’ Gatland said.

Hammett, who is in charge of the Highlanders’ forwards and set piece, conceded there was a difference between the way scrums were officiated in the two hemispheres.

‘‘There is supposed to be a gap and we generally get a gap through heads being on shoulders, so the pre-loading is actually shoulder on shoulder. So that’s what the Frenchman was referring to the other night,’’ he said.

‘‘That’s probably the issue they had with the Crusaders. We scrum slightly different to them.’’

Highlanders fans shouldn’t lose any sleep over their match against the Lions at Forsyth Barr Stadium.

Australian referee Angus Gardner, who has overseen the Highlanders in Super Rugby, is in charge of the game.

‘‘We’ve talked to the ref and he’s happy with our processes so we’ll just have to stick with that,’’ Hammett said.

In a bid to make the lead into tonight’s game special, the Highlanders invited a bunch of former Otago and Highlanders players and coaches who faced the Lions in the past to visit.

Hammett said David Latta, John Leslie, Tony Gilbert and Tom Donnelly all spoke to the team.

Highlanders fullback Richard Buckman missed yesterday afternoon’s captain’s run with a ‘‘stomach problem’’, but Hammett expects him to start against the Lions.