NEW ZEALAND

All Blacks will wait on McCaw

Tuesday 22nd July 2008

McCaw: To determine his own Sydney fate

A final decision on whether Richie McCaw fronts up against Australia in the Bledisloe Cup opener on Saturday will be made by the injured All Blacks skipper himself.

After a month of inactivity, the inspirational flanker was bracketed with Daniel Braid at openside flanker for the Tri-Nations match in Sydney.

New Zealand Head Coach Graham Henry has rated McCaw a 50 per cent chance of playing, depending on further recovery from his ankle strain this week.

The All Blacks captain has been restricted to watching his team's two previous Tri-Nations matches from the sideline since rolling his ankle against England in the second Test in Auckland on June 21.

McCaw has surprised most of the rugby fraternity not only by returning to the training field this week, but also running strongly.

Henry was not so shocked, describing his skipper as a fast healer, but he acknowledged there would be a degree of risk in selecting the veteran of 62 Tests three weeks ahead of the encounter originally circled for his comeback in South Africa.

"He's 50-50 really. We'll see how he progresses for the rest of the week," Henry told NZPA.

"The expectation was that he wasn't going to be ready until next week (against Australia in Auckland) at the earliest.

"But he's got the determination and the desire to play, he's done all the rehab and he's making good progress."

No deadline had been set for the ultimate decision on McCaw or Braid, whose third and most recent All Black outing was nearly five years ago.

Henry suggested McCaw's own instinct would be decisive and he probably would not leave his call until Saturday.

"For Richie's sake, he will make a decision whether he's going to be competitive or not before that," said Henry.

"He's playing against two of the best sevens in the world - (George) Smith and (Phil) Waugh - and he doesn't want to be disadvantaged in that competition and he wants to make sure that he can be competitive.

"If he thinks he can be competitive, he'll play."

Either way, there will be five changes from the starting team who lost 28-30 to South Africa in Dunedin on July 12.

McCaw or Braid will replace Adam Thomson, Brad Thorn returns from suspension for lock Anthony Boric while veteran Greg Somerville replaces tighthead prop John Afoa.

In the backs, centre Richard Kahui will play in place of Conrad Smith while winger Anthony Tuitavake replaces Rudi Wulf, shifting Sitiveni Sivivatu from the right to left wing.

Of those changes, the axing of Smith is most contentious as he is enjoying a rich vein of form.

Assistant coach Wayne Smith based his confidence in Kahui on the 23-year-old's bright display form on debut in the second Test against England last month.

"It wasn't any lack of form from Conrad, I can tell you that," said Wayne Smith.

"They're both pretty young centres. Richard's played against (Mortlock) at Super 14 level. He plays with a lot of edge. We just feel for this game, this opposition on this track, he's the right selection."

Conrad Smith has at least made it on to the bench, with Leon MacDonald not considered for the matchday 22 as he is "pretty battered and bruised", according to Henry.

The only other injury issue surrounds ongoing ankle pain for lock Ali Williams, although Henry said he was feeling better this week than in the weeks leading up to the two South African Tests.

Meanwhile, Henry defended his team's decision to build up for the Bledisloe/Tri-Nations clash in Wellington until Thursday, saying it was made a year ago with the aim of keeping the players at home longer.

"They're travelling a lot and they're overseas a lot so it gives the Wellington boys an opportunity to be at home and it reflects what the Super 14 boys do too," said Henry.

"They're used to going on the Thursday to play on the Saturday."

The All Blacks had traditionally travelled to Australia early in Test week but often found logistics such as the quality and proximity of practice facilities did not match what was available at home.

The team trained in cold, wet conditions on Tuesday, evoking a wry smile from Henry.

"After today's training I thought it might have been pretty good to be in Sydney. It was mentioned by a number of the players."