Cantabs swell training squad

The Crusaders' influence in the All Blacks grew further yesterday when fullback Ben Blair and Sam Broomhall were named to cover for injury in an extended 30-player squad to attend a training camp in Hanmer.

Also introduced was second five-eighths Paul Steinmetz, and the 27 players who contested the first four tests of the year have been retained.

They included Steinmetz's Highlanders' team-mate Sam Harding, who was called in for the test against Fiji on Saturday in place of injured flanker Marty Holah.

Broomhall and Steinmetz have never been All Blacks and were rewarded for their form in the Super 12 and for the Barbarians against the New Zealand Maori.

Blair made his test debut as a reserve against Scotland on last year's tour and started against Argentina in Buenos Aires.

The squad will gather in Christchurch today before transferring to Hanmer for the four-day camp.

Their next test is the opening Tri Nations match against Australia in Christchurch on July 13.

The All Blacks selectors had hoped to announce their new squad of 26 for the Tri Nations yesterday, but it has been delayed until the end of the camp on Friday as injuries sustained by key players in the test against Fiji are assessed.

There are serious question marks over the fitness of Crusaders fullback Leon MacDonald and Hurricanes centre Tana Umaga.

MacDonald was concussed and had a deep cut above his eye in a clash of heads and he will be monitored over the next few days, All Blacks team manager Andrew Martin said.

"It's fair to say there's an element of concussion there because he took a heck of a knock."

Previously, players suffering from concussion were automatically stood down for 21 days. Now the injury is screened to determine its severity and the length of stand-down time.

Umaga re-injured the medial ligament in his right knee, although the strain was not believed to be as severe as that which kept him sidelined for five weeks during the Super 12.

Blair, Steinmetz, Broomhall and Harding have been included as respective cover for the injured MacDonald, Umaga, Taine Randell, who has a calf strain, and Holah, who picked up a medial knee strain in the second test against Ireland.

The inclusion of Blair, 23, and Broomhall, 25, brings the number of Crusaders in the squad to 17.

Steinmetz takes the number of Highlanders to seven.nte

Training squad: Leon MacDonald (Canterbury), Christian Cullen (Wellington), Ben Blair (Canterbury), Doug Howlett (Auckland), Caleb Ralph (Canterbury), Jonah Lomu (Wellington), Tana Umaga (Wellington), Mark Robinson (Canterbury), Daryl Gibson (Canterbury), Paul Steinmetz (Wellington), Aaron Mauger (Canterbury), Andrew Mehrtens (Canterbury), Justin Marshall (Canterbury), Byron Kelleher (Otago), Scott Robertson (Canterbury), Taine Randell (Otago), Sam Broomhall (Canterbury), Richard McCaw (Canterbury), Marty Holah (Waikato), Sam Harding (Otago), Reuben Thorne (Canterbury, captain), Norm Maxwell (Canterbury), Chris Jack (Canterbury), Simon Maling (Otago), Greg Somerville (Canterbury), Kees Meeuws (Auckland), Dave Hewett (Canterbury), Joe McDonnell (Otago), Tom Willis (Otago), Mark Hammett (Canterbury).

- NZPA