All Blacks: Squad deadline plea fails

A fit Richie McCaw is crucial to the All Blacks' World Cup chances. Photo / Getty Images

The All Blacks have failed to win special dispensation to name their World Cup squad after the official deadline.

Team manager Darren Shand campaigned for months to persuade the IRB to allow the All Blacks to delay naming their 30-man World Cup squad until August 28 - the day after their final Tri Nations game against Australia in Brisbane.

But the IRB has refused to budge, meaning the All Blacks will name their squad on Monday, August 22. The timing is far from ideal, leaving the All Blacks with concerns on two fronts.

The first is that they will delay any media functions around the naming until the team returns to Auckland. Management don't want preparations for the Brisbane test to be focused on who has made the World Cup cut and who hasn't.

Of greater concern are the issues the early naming causes in regard to potential injuries occurring in the final test.

After the 30 names have been submitted to the IRB, restrictive rules kick-in. If one of the original 30 players is declared injured and in need of being replaced, they can't rejoin the squad later in the tournament unless there is a genuine injury to someone else.

If the All Blacks don't pick a specialist openside in their original squad and Richie McCaw - for example - pulls his hamstring in Brisbane and is unable to play for four weeks, the coaching staff would face a tough choice. If they call in a replacement specialist, then McCaw could only rejoin the squad later in the competition if someone else were to be injured.

The coaches would no doubt find a way to muddle through such a scenario - keeping McCaw in the squad until he recovered while pressing someone into being a makeshift No 7. But it won't be so easy if one of the hookers or halfbacks is injured in Brisbane.

If Keven Mealamu were to be damaged in the final Tri Nations game and ruled out until the latter stages of the tournament, the All Blacks would have to risk getting through the pool rounds with just two hookers available.

What's also not widely understood is that if New Zealand need to call in a replacement player to cover for an injury, they have to wait 48 hours to do so. So if they only have two hookers in their squad - and one falls ill on the night before a test - a replacement can only join the squad 48 hours after the All Blacks seek permission to draft in the new player.

The time delay is in place to prevent the home team from winning an advantage. It would take the likes of Scotland, Argentina and South Africa at least 48 hours to fly a replacement player to New Zealand.

"Once we became aware of it [the deadline] we campaigned to see if we could delay things," says Shand.

"We did it on our own first then together with Australia but Rugby World Cup eventually decided that we couldn't move those dates."

Australia and New Zealand are the only two sides who will play a test after the deadline. But despite concerns about the timing, Shand reiterated that the All Blacks remain determined to win the Tri Nations.

Comments he made earlier in the week were misconstrued to suggest the All Blacks are considering emulating South Africa who, in 2007, left many of their senior players at home for the away leg of the Tri Nations. Such a radical plan is not thought to be on the All Blacks agenda.

However, with the Tri Nations rules allowing only 26 players to travel, some players in the 30-man squad will be given time off or be asked to play ITM Cup to keep sharp. The extended Super Rugby programme is concerning the All Black selectors.

They are aware some players have been heavily involved while others might be holding back; trying to leave something in the tank.

Inevitably, there will be a need to manage players during the Tri Nations but it is still expected that the senior core will be available and played in every test.