Sir Steve Hansen said the selection of an injured Brodie Retallick for the All Blacks' Rugby World Cup squad is not a risk.
Like in 2019 when Sir Steve was in charge, lock Retallick goes into this year's tournament in France under an injury cloud, this time due to a knee ligament issue.
He is likely to miss the first two pool matches against France and Namibia after limping from the pitch during Saturday's victory over the Wallabies in Dunedin.
Sir Steve told Breakfast he had no qualms about Retallick being picked alongside fellow locks Scott Barrett, Sam Whitelock and Tupou Vaa’i.
"When you know there is a timeline that fits into him playing maybe the second game of the round robin, that's plenty of time for him to recover.
"He's got a big motor on him, he works hard, he'll get treated by the best medical people on the planet every day. I don't think it's a risk, it's a calculated decision and it's a good one because he's a quality player."
Sir Steve said this year's squad had more depth than in 2019, and has felt for a while now they are good enough to win it.
"They've been building nicely, I think they've got the front five to be able to do the job, to lay a platform. There is a sticky hurdle, there's definitely going to be two of the top four teams in the world knocked out in the quarterfinals. One of South Africa, Ireland, France or the All Blacks, because we're on the tough side of the draw."
He said there was a good blend of experienced older heads and enthusiastic younger players making their World Cup debut.
"A big difference I think is in '19 we were trying to win it for the third time in a row and there's a lot of people sat in the changing shed after we got beaten by England who were very disappointed.
"A lot of those guys are back there and this is the last opportunity they will get so, they'll be desperate, and a desperate All Blacks team is a good All Blacks team to be involved with."
SHARE ME