All Blacks lock Patrick Tuipulotu has moved to dispel any concerns about his fitness for the first Test against England on Saturday by saying he is "ready to go".
Fresh from an extraordinary 60 minutes for the Blues in their crushing Super Rugby Pacific grand final victory over the Chiefs at Eden Park — where he started despite suffering a medial ligament injury only a fortnight before — that is good news for the All Blacks ahead of the match in Dunedin.
There is good news, too, about fellow lock and skipper Scott Barrett, who appeared to get through a full training in Wellington today and is likewise set to start under the roof.
Barrett last played on May 4 for the Crusaders in the round 11 defeat to the Brumbies in Christchurch, where he left the pitch after only 15 minutes due to a lower back injury.
The All Blacks named only three locks in their squad of 32 – the other is Tupou Vaa’i (Sam Darry is training as cover) — so to have both Barrett and Tuipulotu fit is a huge boost for the team and in particular the selectors headed by Scott Robertson, who have taken a gamble on the trio.
Forwards coach Jason Ryan last week didn’t appear overly optimistic that Barrett and Tuipulotu would be 100% available but that may have been a case of natural conservatism rather than pessimism.
"The knee felt good," Tuipulotu said today. "It hasn’t held me back. I’m pretty happy, I’m stoked – and I think the coaches are too.
"I’m ready to go."
The 31-year-old, who has 43 Test caps, proved his importance as captain of the Blues this season and has a big role to play this year in the absence of the retired Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick.
Tuipulotu has always had size and power but often not the required mentality to dominate at the highest level. Hopefully for him his breakthrough year with the Blues and added importance in the All Blacks can translate on Saturday and beyond.
“With the absence of those guys there’s obviously more of a leadership role there in terms of my role in the lineout and forward pack,” he said.
“I try to bring my leadership presence that I’ve had at the Blues. I don’t want to steer too far from doing my talking on the field but there is obviously a gap to be filled.”
Another who has an added leadership role this year is midfielder Jordie Barrett, a vice-captain alongside Ardie Savea under skipper and brother Scott.
"There’s a bit of extra something there for me," Jordie said today.
There is little danger of overstating the importance of the 27-year-old Hurricanes player to Robertson’s team.
The second-five will be a 1.94m safety valve alongside first-five Damian McKenzie in Dunedin – on the assumption the Chiefs playmaker starts there as expected – and proved as recently as November he can almost do it all on the biggest stage.
In the World Cup final, Barrett effectively played two positions – blindside flanker as cover for the red-carded Sam Cane, and second-five. That he still had the energy to put his hand up for the late penalty attempt – which he missed – despite his workload and regular collisions with Boks flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit almost beggared belief.
"It’s an exciting phase ahead of me," Barrett said of his vice-captaincy.
He said he was expecting an expansive game from England, who finished third in this year’s Six Nations behind France and Ireland but improved throughout and got the better of the men in green.
"They were awesome in the Six Nations against Ireland and France and put some points on Japan," Barrett said. "We think they’re going to bring a bit of line speed and have Marcus Smith and a few other guys who ignite their backline.
"Any momentum they get they’ll play on top of. They’re an exciting team and playing under the roof will suit the way they’re heading too."
Tuipulotu, meanwhile, said the new head coach known as Razor had made his mark already with his energy. "It’s positive, especially in the meeting room. We don’t have guys sort of falling asleep when he’s up there presenting to us."
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