All Blacks: Fingers crossed on injuries

Ali Williams was sidelined after a collision with Sebastien Chabel in 2007. Photo / Getty Images

If fate has a heart, New Zealand will be spared a major casualty toll in the build up to the World Cup.

Bad luck has not been in short supply in previous World Cup years - big names incurring big dramas. It's surely some other country's turn to frown over gloomy X-rays, hastily re-arranging selection plans.

The Springboks have certainly had a fright in the past week. The indomitable Juan Smith, so crucial to their loose-forward mix, has torn an Achilles. He may recover in time - or the medics could be erring on the side of optimism. Initial reports stated Smith was looking at a nine-month recovery. Like some kind of reverse poker player, Cheetahs doctor Ian Morris has seen that nine months and lowered it to six.

"We are planning on having him fit for the World Cup," Morris told Afrikaans newspaper Volksblad. "There is definitely a chance he can recover in time. If everything goes well, six months is not an unreasonable recovery period. He will be able to play in August and the World Cup starts at the beginning of September."

Australia have had their first proper taste of bad luck in World Cup year. Reds fullback Peter Hynes, a useful squad man for Wallaby coach Robbie Deans, incurred a repeat knee injury against the Waratahs. His World Cup involvement is now doubtful, as is his career.

Serious injury is never easy for professional players to deal with. But there is greater mental anguish when injury strikes so close to a World Cup. It feels much crueller to be in the selection frame and only months away from what will be the highlight of any career - and then robbed.

It's hard to imagine the emotions swirling through a player left to watch the big event he so desperately wanted to be part of. No one had to do that tougher than Andy Dalton in 1987. Originally selected as the All Black captain, Dalton pulled a hamstring just weeks before the event and had to watch David Kirk lift the Webb Ellis trophy aloft. Kirk is the iconic image etched in every brain, while Dalton is in the shadows of history - the tale of the unlucky man.

The experience of seeing his team win without him is often described as bittersweet. Over the years, Dalton has given the impression it was more bitter than sweet.

Carlos Spencer had to deal with the frustration of making it to England for the 1999 World Cup, only to fly home days before the first game after injuring his knee in a training collision. Like other New Zealanders, he watched in horror as the events of the semifinal unwound. His was a different pain - one laced with frustration at how events might have changed had he been there.

In 2003 the campaign was dominated by one injury - the knee damage suffered by Tana Umaga after just 13 minutes of the opening game against Italy. Ironically it was accidental damage ('friendly fire') inflicted by a random collision with Spencer. All year the gods had smiled upon New Zealand's elite, allowing coach John Mitchell to select from the full professional portfolio.

Then one slice of bad luck and the whole campaign was derailed with Mitchell having failed to select an alternative centre whom he trusted.

In 2007, the bad luck felt like it would never end. So much of the previous two years had been spent building depth which proved, in one sense at least, a sensible strategy. In early March, Jason Eaton suffered serious ligament damage to his knee and was ruled out for a year. James Ryan then incurred an almost identical injury and the selectors were suddenly left with three, rather than five, test-class locks.

That number dwindled to two when Keith Robinson couldn't get his ailing back and knee to come right. When Ali Williams broke his jaw in a head clash with Sebastien Chabal, there was real concern over just which locks would be left standing at the World Cup.

Williams and Robinson made it but the loss of Ryan and Eaton not only robbed the All Blacks of vibrancy and athleticism in their final mix, it sent a negative vibe through the rugby community ahead of the tournament. Their injuries were a sobering reminder of how everything could be lost in an instant. There was also a heightened sense that, having dominated world rugby since 2005, the All Black plan was steering badly off course in the most critical year.

Ryan has never been seen again. His injuries forced a career rethink and he's now focused on his work as a lawyer. Maybe it is true, too, that Eaton has never mentally recovered from missing the 2007 event and just hasn't been the same player since.

There is nothing the All Black selectors can do in the next few months, other than sit tight and hope that they are due some kind of better luck.