The All Blacks have suffered a couple of injury blows but they're confident former captain Sam Cane will be available for his final test as an All Black.
The All Blacks have lost flanker Samipeni Finau and possibly midfielder Jordie Barrett but they are confident former captain Sam Cane will be available for their final match of the year and his final test as an All Black.
Finau has been ruled out of this weekend's clash with Italy in Turin after suffering a concussion in Sunday's one-point loss to France in Paris, while Barrett is in doubt with a knee injury.
Chiefs loosie Finau replaced Cane for the 30-29 defeat to France but was forced off with a head knock early in the match and failed his HIA with Peter Lakai taking over for most of the test.
"That's a 12 day stand down for a start. Correct. So he's not available," coach Scott Robertson said.
Barrett went off with a knee complaint at Stade de France and will have scans on Monday to determine his availability for the Italy match. He may have been due a rest anyway, having played all three tests against England, Ireland and France.
Robertson though is bullish about Cane's chances of playing one last test before he retires from internationals with the loose forward recovering well from a head wound he suffered in the win over Ireland that required multiple stiches and sidelined him for the French defeat.
"His noggin is good," said Robertson
"He's a good healer actually. The head from where it was a week and a bit ago to now is great. The scar's healed up quite nicely and he's just got enough hair to to cover a little bit of it."
Some leading All Blacks have played 10 or more tests this year and while Robertson said all members of the squad will be involved in training this week, it's likely there will be some changes to the side for the Italy test, which the All Blacks are heavy favourites to win.
Italy had to come from behind to beat Georgia in Genoa this morning and were thumped by Argentina last weekend.
"Everyone stays in hand. We need everyone to have a great training week and finish this tour with the best squad we can," Robertson said.
"We'll select the best team for Italy. This year's been a great year for us to play 12 debutants give them game time, get them in good combinations and get a bit of cohesion going. This week will be no different.
"Get a balance in the group that is match-hardened. A few of these guys are heading into their fourth game in a row now...and we'll get the balance for the best team this week."
Robertson has also thrown his support behind captain Scott Barrett after the skipper's decision to take a kick at goal instead of going for a match-winning try in yesterday's loss to France.
Barrett admitted after the game that he may have made the wrong call in the heat of the moment.
"I was really torn, actually, on that," Barrett said.
"Could go to the corner - four points behind, put ourselves in front. Equally, we get back and five minutes to go, we get down there and it's a one-shot play,"
"We could have gone for the corner, on reflection," he conceded.
"We could have gone for the win. I'll reflect on that and learn from that [and whether] it was the right decision. Potentially not."
However, Robertson is backing his skipper. He said the coaches did send a message to the field, but wouldn't say what that message was.
"You've got to support him. That's the first thing. He's your captain, you trust him. He went on instinct at the time. Now he's had a bit of time to reflect. When you look at the opportunities in test footy, they're quite limited and he felt like he might (have) got another one to get another three or a shot to win it and we didn't get that.
"We have a process to tell him our thoughts. He got the information."
