Popping a sleeping tablet was not the only reason Graham Henry grabbed some decent shut-eye during the 9144km flight between Auckland and Hong Kong yesterday.
Having watched his troops gallop through a 50-min match the day before, Henry was gratified to see Dan Carter and Keven Mealamu emerge unscathed and promote themselves as selection candidates for Saturday night’s dead rubber against the Wallabies at Hong Kong Stadium.
First five-eighth Carter, who has not played since the All Blacks beat the Springboks 29-22 in Soweto on August 21, lasted the full 50 minutes, while hooker Mealamu completed 40.
Carter was sidelined following the dramatic win over the Boks because he was booked to have ankle surgery, while Mealamu pulled a calf muscle against the Wallabies on September 11.
The “match” was staged to give the coaches the opportunity to observe their strategies and possible selection scenarios ahead of the five-test tour of Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
As he fronted a small media contingent just three hours after arriving in Hong Kong from the 11-hour plane trip, Henry jested he was still woozy from the sleeping pill he had gobbled midflight, but was more enthusiastic about how key playmaker Carter coped in his comeback.
“He got through it well. He did a lot of goal-kicking afterwards,” Henry said. “He played for 50 minutes and he was fine. Two guys we were worried about, coming off injury, were Daniel, obviously, and Kevvie. And they were both really good.”
Another injured player, rake Andrew Hore, flew with the All Blacks squad to Hong Kong. Henry intimated he could be eased back for the test against Scotland in Edinburgh on November 13.
But the chances of Carter playing the Wallabies, it seems, have not diminished despite his lack of game time, and even with Stephen Donald striking a hot run of form over the last month, the Cantabrian may not be rested for the test against England on November 6. “It is a possibility [he will start],” Henry said. “What we are trying to do on the tour is build the team to a higher standard and that is the No1 objective. You can’t have a lot of changes from week to week.
“You just have to have that backbone and you build around that backbone. If we play one team this week and another team next week, which we have done before, we wouldn’t have achieved that objective.”
The All Blacks is much better prepared for this tour. I also like the way GH thinks this time.
“You just have to have that backbone and you build around that backbone. If we play one team this week and another team next week, which we have done before, we wouldn’t have achieved that objective.”
He wont go to the next WC wondering who is his best players, they have started building great combinations.
So, as we look ahead to the traditional end-of-year tour, starting next Saturday night in Hong Kong, it’s not the chance to sweep the four Home Unions that captures the chief interest. In other words, it’s not so much wham-bam, thank-you Slam; but ho-hum, are we done?
Let’s face it there’s a certain feeling of fait accompli about the prospect of tackling the four nations of the UK and Ireland on consecutive Saturdays. Under Graham Henry the All Blacks have already achieved it twice, in 2005 and ’08, with only minor discomfort. In fact, in the “Time of Ted” they’ve yet to lose a test on a November tour.
MARC HINTON – Sunday Star Times
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