New Zealand have played down injury concerns over Colin Slade after the fly-half went down with a knee problem as training began in earnest for their Rugby World Cup defence.
Slade received medical attention on Tuesday after slipping over in Wellington, an incident that revived memories of New Zealand’s injury woes at the last tournament in 2011.
“He slipped over during training and landed awkwardly on his knee and gave it a bit of a tweak,” assistant coach Ian Foster said.
“He was walking around the shed afterwards. He’s fine.”
Slade was one of three fly-halves sidelined with injury during the 2011 World Cup, almost derailing New Zealand’s bid to win the tournament on home soil.
Foster also attempted to downplay winger Waisake Naholo’s stunning return from a broken leg, which has been attributed to traditional Fijian medicine administered by his uncle.
“It was a cultural thing,” he said. “I know talking about miracles and stuff like that sells papers, but at the end of the day the timeline we were given from our medicos is pretty spot on.”
Elsewhere, Ireland have chosen to go with just two scrum-halves for the World Cup and have omitted experienced winger Andrew Trimble.
Coach Joe Schmidt will go with Conor Murray and Eoin Reddan at No 9 in his 31-strong squad, a move that allowed him to make room for an extra centre in Ulster’s Darren Cave.
Isaac Boss and Kieran Marmion miss out as a result, with props Nathan White and Tadhg Furlong both included as expected.
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