The All Blacks could be without first choice midfielder Jordie Barrett for their opening game against hosts France because of a knee “niggle” that prevented him from training.
Assistant coach Scott McLeod says Barrett’s got a niggle in his left knee,and they are just taking precautions.
He says it is still early in the week, so they will wait and see how he responds to a little bit more treatment.
The assistant coach says the All Blacks always prepared their whole squad to play through a test week, and he was confident that any midfield change-up, if required, would be taken in stride as they have proven performers in David Havili and Anton Lienert-Brown both more than capable of slotting in alongside Ioane in the No 12 jersey.
Barrett will be given every chance to shake off the problem, which Mcleod could not put down to any particular incident in training or even the 35-7 Boks bashing in London.
Barrett and Rieko Ioane have been the preferred midfield starting combination since head coach Ian Foster moved Barrett to No 12 following last year's Bledisloe thriller in Melbourne when David Havili and Quinn Tupaea both went down with injury.
Since then, they started four of the five remaining tests of 2022 as part of a super-sized midfield, and then four of the five outings in 2023, with the second Bledisloe in Dunedin (which both sat out) the sole exception.
The All Blacks are already set to be without a trio of first-choice selections in lock Brodie Retallick, flanker Shannon Frizell and prop Tyrel Lomax for the hugely anticipated clash against France, and Barrett’s potential defection would be a serious blow as the New Zealanders look to bounce back from the record defeat to South Africa in their final warm-up match at Twickenham.
The RWC kicks off this Saturday with hosts France taking on the All Blacks at 7.15am in Paris.
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