KEY POINTS:
Occasional All Black Anthony Tuitavake will not feature in next week's Tri-Nations decider with the Wallabies after he broke a cheekbone in the midweek slaughter of Samoa.
While initial reports said strains, bumps and bruises were the worst All Blacks damage from the 101-14 victory at New Plymouth,
subsequent x-rays revealed that Tuitavake had broken a bone in his face and would miss about six weeks of rugby.
Tuitavake played his fourth test on the wing against Samoa and was hurt in a heavy collision during the first half and replaced by provincial teammate Rudi Wulf. Fullback Mils Muliaina was subbed at halftime after complaining of a damaged knee while lock Anthony Boric suffered a shoulder strain, though neither was considered doubtful yesterday for the Brisbane showdown.
The All Blacks reassemble and fly out to Brisbane on Sunday and have decided they can cover Tuitavake's absence from within their squad with Richard Kahui, Sitiveni Sivivatu, Wulf and Isaia Toeava all capable of playing on the wing.
Other recent All Blacks missing from the trip are Leon MacDonald and Andrew Ellis, with scant information about a return to rugby for MacDonald after his latest concussion while Ellis may return to play in the national championship next week after his rib injury.
While the All Blacks may be slight favourites to take the Tri-Nations title, this year's series has delivered a raft of erratic results.
All Black centre Conrad Smith felt that sides received better rewards if they used a more judicious kicking approach, built a lead and then reaped the defensive benefits as their foes tried to attack more.
"The rules are making it easier to build pressure so once you're up on a side you can really punish a team that tries to come back at you," he told NZPA. "When you want to attack you really can, but you've still got to be smart with your decisions and pick your moments."
The All Blacks left regular captain Richie McCaw, lock Brad Thorn and wing Sivivatu out of the side which played Samoa because of injury but were adamant that trio and prop John Afoa would recover for the Tri-Nations decider at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.
Coach Graham Henry defended the test match status given to the All Blacks destruction of Samoa as the men in black posted a century of points for the fifth time in their history as a capacity 22,518 crowd watched the game at Yarrow Stadium.
"Where is the line drawn at what should be a test and what shouldn't?" Henry asked. "I think it would be belittling for the Samoan boys if you didn't make it test status."