All Blacks hit by double injury blow

Injuries could prove more of an obstacle to New Zealand’s march towards the World Cup quarter-finals than any of their Pool D rivals.

The All Blacks were not at their scintillating best, but still managed to run 10 tries past a Canadian side which showed guts and determination, though lacked the class to trouble the World Cup favourites.

And yet, for the second time in six days, a New Zealand victory has been overshadowed by bad injury news, this time concerning full-back Ben Blair and scrum-half Byron Kelleher.

Blair was tonight to undergo the first of two traction sessions in a bid to correct a prolapsed disc and compressed nerve in his neck, an injury only discovered by an MRI scan hours before kick-off.

The 24-year-old, who had been due to start the game on the bench, had complained of neck soreness since taking a knock during training in midweek and underwent the scan late today.

The results stunned the All Blacks management, who have called Auckland’s Ben Atiga over as replacement should Blair be ruled out tomorrow.

“Ben has had a bit of a neck problem for a while. We thought it would recover, but he has since been diagnosed from a scan with a prolapsed disc,” said Mitchell.

“That is a very serious injury. We are putting him through traction this evening and there will be another opportunity for traction tomorrow.

“If he doesn’t come through that, he will be replaced by Ben Atiga.”

Kelleher’s hamstring strain summed up the All Blacks’ luck with injury this last fortnight, occurring as it did during his half-time warm-up.

Mitchell, smiling ruefully as he explained what happened, could at least see the funny side of things.

“You’ll laugh, but we actually picked up a hamstring injury during half-time,” he said.

“Byron Kelleher warmed up excessively and pulled his hamstring, so things really aren’t going our way at the moment.”

Vice-captain Tana Umaga is just beginning his recovery from ruptured knee ligaments he suffered during last week’s victory over Italy.

And with Joe Rokocoko, Aaron Mauger and Ali Williams all unavailable to face the Canadians, further injury concerns are the last thing head coach John Mitchell needed.

The injury cloud overshadowed a four-try effort from Mils Muliaina, who was starting his first Test on the wing, and a world-record equalling score from prop Kees Meeuws.

The eighth try of his international career levelled the best return for a prop forward in the history of the game.

“I wanted to do the first things first and if the opportunity came up, I was going to have a crack, and it paid off,” he said afterwards.

Muliaina had started his previous eight internationals at full-back, but Mitchell’s decision to give Leon MacDonald a run and Rokocoko’s injury meant a switch – and a successful one at that.

“I was fortunate enough to get over and dot down a few times, but the boys did all the work,” he said.

“I enjoyed it out there today. I had a different role today, but I always enjoy pulling on the black jersey.”

Number eight Rodney So’oialo scored twice, as did winger Caleb Ralph before Ma’a Nonu wrapped up the win with the 10th try four minutes from time.

Daniel Carter, awarded the kicking responsibilities, converted nine of the tries to finish with a personal haul of 18 points.

The Canadians had conceded defeat before the game started and so were not concerned by the scoreboard, simply putting on a proud and committed display.

And that they did, harrying the All Blacks in the lineout, competing well at the breakdown and disrupting their rhythm with committed defence.

“We were promoting all week that we were never going to win this game – that was the stark reality – but we were going to give them a fight,” said coach David Clark.

“That performance tonight was from a team that was picked because of the defensive qualities and toughness we knew we could put out there tonight.

“I thought we dealt with it extremely well. We can have confidence going forward into Italy and Tonga knowing we can take line-outs from the All Blacks and steal ball form them in the maul.

“That’s pretty good against guys that are going to be eventual world champions.”

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