All Blacks open door for Smith and urge Cruden to stay

It’s time to ‘‘move on’’ from the Aaron Smith saga, declare the history-chasing All Blacks, though there is still the small matter of his misconduct hearing which hovers uncertainly over the team as it gets set to reassemble in Auckland.

All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster confirmed in an interview with Fairfax Media yesterday they were still not sure whether they will have Smith available for next Saturday’s final Bledisloe against the Wallabies at Eden Park.

The 27-year-old halfback, rated by Lions coach Warren Gatland the most influential player in the game, was suspended for last Sunday’s Rugby Championship finale against South Africa by the team’s leadership group for ‘‘inappropriate behaviour’’.

He returned early to New Zealand to deal with the fallout from a heavily publicised dalliance with a woman in a Christchurch airport toilet cubicle on September 18.

Though Smith was sanctioned by the All Blacks leadership group with a one-test suspension (he also sat out the previous fixture against Argentina), he still has to face a misconduct hearing with his employers at New Zealand Rugby who may, or may not, institute further punishment.

Foster admitted it was a less than ideal situation with a short preparation time leading into a massive test against the Wallabies, but said it wouldn’t distract them from their goal of setting the record (18) for the most consecutive victories by a top-tier nation.

‘‘You’ve got to move on,’’ said Foster when asked how they would deal with the special circumstances around their previously indispensible halfback. ‘‘We’ve done what we’ve done with Aaron last week, he’s had a chance to go away, and there is still a bit of a process to go through with New Zealand Rugby and we’ve got to wait and see how that plays out.’’

Foster said they had not been given a timeline on Smith’s hearing with his bosses, but he hoped that would be a lot clearer once the squad launched preparations in Auckland tomorrow.

‘‘Once people come into camp it’s business as normal.

Our expectation is we’ll work with whoever it is − in this case it’s Aaron − to make sure he settles in quickly. I’m sure he will. You do your time, then you come back and get stuck into the work. That’s the attitude that has to be taken.

‘‘We’ll make that assessment after he goes through this process [with NZR] and when we actually get Aaron back in. I don’t want to pre-judge that process. It has to play out

‘‘Part of the challenge we have every week when they come in is just assessing where they’re at and what we think they need to do to prepare for a test match.’’

But Foster conceded there was real resonance to coach Steve Hansen’s claim post the Smith affair that the players were ‘‘like your sons’’ and that you ‘‘love them, even if you don’t love what they do’’.

Added Foster: ‘‘We really care for these guys. We know what they go through, we know the pressures they’re under, and we also know we’re not immune to issues that every sector of society goes through. We understand there’s a consequence and we try to deal with that.

‘‘But it doesn’t mean we don’t love them, and it doesn’t mean we don’t want them to come back after doing what they need to do from an employment side, and from a team side. They’ve got a key role to play, and it’s getting that right balance.’’

The All Blacks will also make sure that fit-again first five Aaron Cruden continues to hear a consistent message from them after recent revelations French club Montpellier are set to wave a $1.3 million-a-year offer under his nose.

‘‘We’ve already sent him a very clear message that we want him to stay,’’ said Foster. ‘‘He’s vital for our plans. It’s a pretty simple message and he’s got it, and if he hasn’t got it loud and clear then he’ll get it again.

‘‘We know the pressure is on him. He’s been out with injury, and our first priority is to get him back training and assess that side.

‘‘Then I guess we’ll deal with the contractual stuff. That’s almost business as normal for us. We’ve got to give them space to go through and evaluate things, but we’ve also got to be very clear how much we want them to stay.’’