McCaw fit: Hansen
RICHIE McCAW reckons he’s still blowing the cobwebs out of his lungs, but All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has confidently declared his skipper test ready for the start of the Rugby Championship.
The All Blacks captain emerged unscathed from last night’s training match against the Cantabrians and Wellington in the Hutt Valley in his first run with the national squad since last year’s end-of-year tour.
Since then McCaw has taken a six-month break, played one club match, and had a couple of brief cameos for the Crusaders.
It’s been enough to convince Hansen his openside is ready to hit the Rugby Championship in top gear when the All Blacks play the Wallabies in Sydney in a week’s time.
‘‘I don’t think he’s going to be good enough, I know he’s going to be good enough,’’ Hansen said after watching McCaw get through 40 minutes against Canterbury before taking a seat.
‘‘We just wanted him to have a good 40 and energy-wise he felt pretty good and could have gone on and played more but we just thought 40 was enough.’’
The jersey was light blue at the Hutt Recreation Ground, but McCaw said it felt good to be back with the national squad for the first time since the All Blacks lost to England at Twickenham on December 2.
‘‘I am [feeling good] to be honest. Fitness-wise there was a bit of running there and it certainly burned a bit, but the big thing is you need [game] time and I’ll be better for that run around. I’m pretty happy.
‘‘I was just pleased to be out on the field. It’s been a while and it’s just nice to have a run around.’’
The All Blacks’ openside was full of running as the All Blacks scored five tries in beating the Cantabrians 19-0 then Wellington 12-7 in two 40-minute spells.
It’s hard to draw too many conclusions from the match, but the starting side appeared to be close to Hansen’s first choice lineup with hooker Dane Coles packing down with loosehead Tony Woodcock in the front row.
Only Ma’a Nonu (ankle) and Liam Messam, who was part of the rested Chiefs contingent, were missing from the side most likely to start the Rugby Championship opener.
Francis Saili had an eventful match in Nonu’s absence creating plenty in attack as the All Blacks created tries for Julian Savea, Dan Carter, Ben Smith, Aaron Smith and Charles Piutau.
But they were largely off in terms of accuracy
Steve Hansen on Richie McCaw and picked up injury concerns over Savea, Saili and blindside Steven Luatua, who all left the field during the second half.
Hansen said it was too early to gauge the injuries, but he was satisfied the match had been a success, particularly at scrum time. ‘‘That’s exactly what we came for. We wanted a game that was going to ebb and flow a bit and a lot of intensity and physicality.
‘‘That’s what we need, we’ve had guys out for three or four weeks not playing.
‘‘We weren’t too bothered by skill execution.
‘‘It was more about getting out there and getting 80 minutes on the track.’’
Hansen rang the changes during the second match against Wellington, the sight of hookers Andrew Hore and Keven Mealamu sharing time at openside summing up the exercise.
‘‘To go into a test match with scrum laws you’ve never played with before would have been a nightmare so as I say it’s been a good night,’’ Hansen said.
‘‘There was [quite a few resets] but some of that might have been the quality of the people out there. Some guys were just a bit too strong for other guys, but I think if we persevere with it we’ll be OK.’’
structures
or