All Blacks: Todd and Braid in frame as coaches consider second openside

Luke Braid. Photo / Getty Images

There could yet be a World Cup bolter with the All Blacks still toying with the idea of calling up a second specialist openside.

If they go down that route, the candidates are Matt Todd and Luke Braid, but the choice will be made only after assessing how Adam Thomson performs at No 7 this morning.

"We have talked about the loose forward issue and whether you take another seven and we will revisit that," said All Blacks coach Graham Henry. "But a lot of that will depend on the form in the test match in Port Elizabeth.

"[Heinrich] Brussow is playing and he is bloody good in that area of the game, so it will be a real test."

If Thomson can stack up as a credible openside, then the selectors will have to make a straight choice between Liam Messam or Victor Vito for the fifth loose forward spot.

If they are left uncertain about Thomson's ability in that role, they could bring in another specialist to back-up McCaw which would leave Messam and Vito out of the World Cup.

"The situation is that we have Thomson who is 29 and has played a lot of footy," says Henry.

"He's hardened, having played 20 tests, and we have got Daniel Braid who is the only other experienced seven but he hasn't played a lot of footy this season.

"Then you have Matt Todd and Luke Braid who are both kids. They are good players but do you take a hardened old bugger who has done it?

"These are the two schools of thought and there is an opportunity to see Adam do that job," says Henry.

Both Todd and Braid are uncapped and the latter would be following in the footsteps of his older brother Daniel should he be the surprise selection on Tuesday.

Daniel Braid was the bolter in the 2003 World Cup squad and would have been a contender this year had it not been for a neck injury.