WAR OF ATTRITION
Cruden given OK after being crunched
Indications are Aaron Cruden’s neck injury sounded worse than it was.
The All Blacks first five-eighth was stretchered from Westpac Stadium after 33 minutes of the team’s 36-22 win over Wales on Saturday night. Cruden heard a ‘‘crack’’ as his neck was compressed in a tackle by Wales lock Luke Charteris, leading to fears he could have suffered a serious injury.
But after being rushed from the ground for X-rays, reports from Wellington Hospital suggested Cruden had escaped with little more than a big fright.
‘‘Doc [team doctor Tony Page] has been in touch and it sounds like he’s going to be OK. They’re just doing a few other precautionary things at the moment but the word is he’s pretty good,’’ New Zealand coach Steve Hansen said.
Cruden had carried the ball into contact and had the misfortune to have his chin pinned to his chest by Charteris’ massive frame. The playmaker looked in significant pain, before becoming more comfortable as his neck was stabilised by a brace and he went from a stretcher to a medicab.
‘‘There was a bit of a crack. But by all accounts back at the hospital there’s nothing that’s damaged, from a broken point of view,’’ Hansen said.
‘‘So they’re all pretty positive about that, so he’s got the all-clear at this stage.’’
Beauden Barrett played in Cruden’s place and produced the moments of brilliance he’s become famed for. The 25-year-old would probably walk into most country’s No 10 jumper but his impact off the bench for New Zealand, in a variety of roles, means he’s unlikely to be a starting All Black anytime soon.
At 10-10 after 51 minutes, the second test in this three-match series appeared in the balance. Then Barrett conjured a try for wing Ben Smith, having left the Welsh midfield of Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies in his wake, then wriggled over to score himself from a five-metre scrum four minutes later.
From 10-10, the All Blacks suddenly led 24-10 and the match was as good as over. Wing Waisake Naholo and flanker Ardie Savea then added tries that were brilliant for vastly different reasons, before two late Welsh tries rounded out the scoring.
‘‘Played really well,’’ All Blacks backs coach Ian Foster said of Barrett.
‘‘He looked really sharp, he carried the ball strong and made some good decisions, particularly with his passing game. Overall he played the sort of game we’d expect him to but it’s great to see him look composed in that 10 jersey.’’
Barrett will always have the odd error in his game but his gamebreaking ability is such that he’s a must for every All Blacks 23. It remains to be seen who’ll start at first-five when this series concludes in Dunedin on Saturday but, in Lima Sopoaga, the squad has a player capable of providing something of a like-for-like replacement if Cruden can’t play.
Second five-eighths Malakai Fekitoa was the team’s other injured party in the second test. He eventually succumbed to a leg knock, as well as suffering a bad head cut that wouldn’t stop bleeding despite being stitched.
There’s an assumption Hansen wanted to use the third test to give opportunities to those who’ve yet to take the park, such as Damian McKenzie, Liam Squire, Codie Taylor and others. He wouldn’t confirm that but did suggest he was satisfied by what he saw at Westpac Stadium.
‘‘We scored five good tries and anytime you do that in a test match I think you’ve got to be reasonably happy with your attack play and we defended really, really well for long periods of time,’’ Hansen said.
‘‘Even when the Welsh scored their last try we were dominating with our defence, made one small mistake and they were good enough to penalise us by making a break.’’