All Blacks get SR break

 

All five New Zealand Super Rugby teams face the difficult balancing act of spelling their All Blacks for two games each in order to keep them fresh for the World Cup defence this year.

 

New Zealand Rugby high performance manager Don Tricker, All Blacks strength and conditioning trainer Nick Gill and physiotherapist Peter Gallagher this week visited Super Rugby bases to map out a player-management plan.

 

The Blues, Crusaders and Chiefs decided to rest a selection of their All Blacks in the opening round starting on February 13.

 

The Highlanders, who have a bye first up, and Hurricanes, who head to South Africa, decided to find two other weeks during the season.

 

All Blacks centurion Keven Mealamu is expected to be given the first three weeks off,missing the Blues' two-week trip to South Africa and giving James Parsons his chance.

 

Powerhouse lock Patrick Tuipulotu also misses the Blues' round one match against the Chiefs.

 

"All our players except for Patrick Tuipulotu and Keven Mealamu will be available Round One in some form," Blues coach Sir John Kirwan said.

 

"That's something we've committed to. At this stage it's probably best to leave Keven behind and get him ready for when we come home. Then he'll be fresh and he can go for it."

 

For the same encounter, the Chiefs will be without Aaron Cruden, world player of the year Brodie Retallick and Liam Messam, leaving brothers Damian and Marty McKenzie to contest the No.10 jersey as Andrew Horrell recovers from injury.

 

"Brodie, Aaron and Liam won't play round one," Chiefs coach Dave Rennie said. 

 

"We've know that for a while so we'll plan around that accordingly.

 

Kieran Read and Sam Whitelock won't return to the Crusaders until round five after exercising their mini-sabbatical clauses and Israel Dagg will miss the first game against the Melbourne Rebels.

 

The remainder of the team's All Blacks – including Dan Carter – will be on deck from the outset.

 

"Kieran Read and Sam Whitelock won't be available until Round Five and Israel Dagg will sit out round one," Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder said.

 

"Otherwise, everyone is available."

 

To counter their belated start, the Highlanders have an internal trial planned during Round One and coach Jamie Joseph expects Ben Smith, Aaron Smith and Malakai Fekitoa to be involved for their opening game.

 

"Based on their fitness levels and where they're at, it would be nice to give them a trot in the trial, but if they're not quite right it's a bloody long year for those guys so there's no real urgency to get them back for an internal game," Joseph said.

 

"It's more about getting them prepared for a long season."

 

Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd hopes his full All Blacks contingent will turn out in Johannesburg.

 

"Potentially everybody is available to play week one against the Lions. 

 

Some of those guys will have to play not having had any pre-season football. Some guys are comfortable with that because they don't enjoy the pre-season stuff anymore.

 

"Others said they need a 40-minute hit-out against the Blues [in pre-season] so we're just tidying that up.

 

"There's probably only going to be half a dozen games in the year where we've got the luxury of fielding on paper our top side. By and large we'll try and find two weeks off for most of our All Blacks."

 

Despite the disruption and added pressure on squad depth, all franchises appear committed to helping the All Blacks' cause.

 

"We're all on the same page," Kirwan said.

 

"We need to find the time to give them those two weeks off. That will be a challenge but our coaching staff will look at the season and particular games. It will put a huge emphasis on the whole squad."