All Blacks fit and injury free

2006-08-24 21:33

Pretoria - The All Blacks have wrapped up their preparations for Saturday's Tri-Nations Test against the Springboks without any injuries.

Assistant coach Wayne Smith reported on Thursday evening that there was an all clear in the camp ahead of the Loftus battle with only a captain's run ahead for the team before the game.

"It was a quite an intense session on Thursday, the last real organised session before the Test and it was a good one. Everyone got through well and pretty sharp," Smith said.

"You've got to try and simulate what you're coming up against (on Saturday), but you don't want to have the impacts too hard. It was reasonably physical, intense for quite a short period of time."

Smith also confirmed that captain Richie McCaw was over his sore neck and suspected broken nose and would take his place to play.

"There are some issues getting over the fatigue of the travel and we had a physical game five days ago, now we're preparing halfway around the world for another one.

"We've handled that really well, our recoveries have been really good and we've listened to the players' needs, so hopefully we're in the best condition we can be."

The All Blacks are hoping to give Graham Henry his first win in South Africa since taking over as New Zealand coach.

- SAPA