McCaw returns to ABs

22 Jul 2008

Richie McCaw has been bracketed in the All Black team for the Bledisloe Cup match in Sydney on Saturday – along with four other changes.

McCaw hasn’t played in the Tri-Nations after spraining his ankle in the second Test against England, but has been named with Daniel Braid as the openside flank options. McCaw was only supposed to return at the earliest next week, but he’s made a surprisingly speedy recovery and he’ll make a late fitness call on his availability to start.

“He’s 50-50 really. We’ll see how he progresses for the rest of the week,” Graham Henry told the media.

“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.”

Other changes to the team that lost in Dunedin include the surprise axing of outside centre Conrad Smith for Richard Kahui, Brad Thorne returns from suspension in place of Anthony Boric, Anthony Tuitavake replaces Rudi Wulf on the wing, Greg Somerville resumes at tighthead as John Afoa drops to the bench, while either McCaw or Braid will take over from Adam Thomson.

McCaw’s decision on whether he’ll play or not could be left as late as Saturday.

“For Richie’s sake, he will not 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.”

New Zealand – 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Anthony Tuitavake, 13 Richard Kahui, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Andy Ellis; 8 Jerome Kaino, 7 Daniel Braid/Richie McCaw (c), 6 Rodney So’oialo, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Greg Somerville, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock. Subs: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 John Afoa, 18 Anthony Boric, 19 Sione Lauaki, 20 Jimmy Cowan, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Conrad Smith.


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