Mealamu wants another World Cup

Keven Mealamu says he isn’t done yet, not by a long shot.

As another round of hand wringing about the country’s depth at hooker kicks off, Mealamu has reiterated his desire to be part of next year’s World Cup campaign.

Dane Coles’ looming absence from part, or all, of the All Blacks’ trip to Argentina and South Africa later this month for the birth of his child has again highlighted the dearth of options available to coach Steve Hansen.

Bay of Plenty’s Nathan Harris is the next cab off the rank, but after that it’s anybody’s guess.

‘‘We’ve been bringing people in and out of the environment,’’ Hansen said. ‘‘Nathan’s been one of those guys, [Liam] Coltman from Otago, Motu Matu’u from Wellington and there are other guys we’ve been watching and have spoken to.

‘‘There are guys making some good progress and we’re wrapped with how Nathan’s come along. The set piece is the main concern, scrummaging and lineout throwing are big for us and he’s come along in leaps and bounds as will others when we get them into the environment.’’

All the while, Mealamu, 35 years old and with 115 test caps has dutifully put his team first and fallen into the role of mentor and teacher, first to Coles, now to Harris.

But the Auckland hooker hasn’t stepped aside. He still wants to add to his test caps, still wants to start and still wants to push for a place, on merit, at next year’s World Cup.

‘‘Most definitely [I want to be there],’’ Mealamu said ahead of Saturday’s test against Argentina in Napier. ‘‘The first thing for me is making sure I can get there because obviously the calves, and the other C word, competition.

‘‘I want to make sure I can be there and be at my best and add to the team if I’m good enough to be there, I would love to be . . . All I can do is lead well by playing well. That’s the best way to mentor those guys who are coming through.’’

And Mealamu is hoping he’ll play a significant part against the Pumas at McLean Park where he is expecting the toughest scrummaging challenge of the season thus far.

‘‘It’s just part of their DNA, part of their genetics. As long as I can remember that’s been what they’ve been good at and what they’re known for,’’ he said.

‘‘If you look how they are built they are perfectly made for forwards. They’ll give us a really good challenge this week.’’ He noted the Pumas scrum demolished South Africa in Salta two weeks ago, and in particular how they had managed to shunt them backwards with a second push.

‘‘That’s something we’ll have to plan for over the next couple for days. We will sit down as a team and have a good look at the,’’ he said. ‘‘They are a powerful pack, we’ll have to plan really well. They have a really good mindset about the scrum. They see it as a strength and the more you work at it the better you get at it.

‘‘But that’s not to say we aren’t going to walk toward that challenge. We’ll put the emphasis and accountability on ourselves to prepare well this week.’’

Mealamu believes the All Blacks pack will need to be better to match the Pumas than they were against the Wallabies at Eden Park.

‘‘Definitely. The challenge is right there for us the way they play and with the forward pack they have, so even more so this week.’’

Auckland hooker Keven Mealamu still wants to add to his test caps, including another wrld cup.