All blacks always one step ahead -called plans

Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder will allow his All Blacks to miss training ahead of their mid-campaign departure for Test duty.

The jam-packed southern hemisphere schedule will see the All Blacks play three Tests against Ireland in June, just ahead of the Super Rugby play-offs in late July.

After a request from national coach Steven Hansen Blackadder has agreed to release his All Blacks from trainings on the Mondays and Tuesdays in the fortnight before the first Test in Auckland on 9 June. The players will train with the All Blacks for those four sessions.

The Crusaders, who provide an appreciable number of players to the Blacks, will hope for their charges to make it through the series unscathed given that they are likely to contest strongly for the title.

‘It is a compromise,’ Blackadder told Fairfax Media. ‘It is better than taking all of the [All Blacks] players out of the Super Rugby competition and leaving a team like the Crusaders or the Blues with very little depth to draw on.’

Meanwhile, it is reported that captain Richie McCaw and star flyhalf Dan Carter, both injured at the 2011 World Cup, are not expected to start playing until mid-March.

keo.co.za