Retallick eyes ‘ideal’ Italy return

Steve Hansen says quarterfinal; Brodie Retallick is aiming for even earlier. Either way, the outlook for what might be the final piece in the All Blacks’ World Cup puzzle is a lot brighter than it was just a week ago.

Retallick was named on Wednesday in Hansen’s 31-strong All Blacks squad for the World Cup in Japan which the back-to-back champions will open with a clash against the Springboks in Yokohama on September 21.

But with the 28-year-old, 77-test lock still recovering from a dislocated shoulder suffered in the 16-16 draw against South Africa in Wellington on July 28, the timeline for his return remains a clouded one. At the squad announcement the All Blacks coach was definitely toeing a conservative line.

‘‘We don’t expect him to play in the round-robin, but we’re reasonably sure he should make the quarterfinals, and from there we don’t know,’’ said Hansen. ‘‘We’ve rolled the dice and we’ll see what happens. We think he’s worthy of that risk.’’

But Retallick revealed that he is hopeful of playing in the All Blacks’ final pool game (against Italy on October 12) to give himself a blowout ahead of the knockout rounds. ‘‘That would be ideal,’’ Retallick said. ‘‘For the quarterfinals there’s a lot of pressure on, and it would be good to blow the lungs out in a pool game if possible. But I’ll take whatever I get to.’’ Retallick revealed he had feared the worst when nerve damage after the dislocation had hindered the recovery process. He initially had just 45-50 degrees of range of movement in his left arm.

‘‘I’ve made some good progress the last 3-4 days, so there’s light at the end of the tunnel.’’