All Blacks: Hansen more upbeat as goalkickers work through problems

In his past two tests, Cruden has kicked six goals from 14 attempts. Photo / NZ Herald

An injury problem has been hampering Aaron Cruden's goalkicking, says coach Steve Hansen, who admits to being concerned at the poor recent success rates of his kickers.

In his past two tests, Cruden has kicked six goals from 14 attempts, a success rate of less than 50 per cent. He kicked two from five against England at Twickenham before Beauden Barrett came on at first-five and kicked one from three - his two misses coming from relatively close range.

Despite a lack of intensive practice because of his leg injuries, Dan Carter, returning to the No 10 jersey for the first time in a year, was successful with all three of his kicks during his 30 minutes against the USA in Chicago.

Asked about how concerned he was with the kicking percentage of the other two, Hansen said: "During the test match it's pretty high because you want them to go over. In the case of Crudes, he's had a couple of bad days. But Mick [Byrne] and the physio [Pete Gallagher] have worked out the problem, so they tell me. He kicked really well the other day after getting some physio from Pete and freeing up the [hip] joint. He seems to have established that that is the thing that has held him back so if they can stay on top of that he'll be fine."

Carter, meanwhile, has been in good form with his left boot despite his lay-off.

Carter said: "Leading into the Chicago game I only had two kicking sessions in the two months leading up to it. There was a lack of preparation, but I've just got to go back to the fact that I've been doing this since I was 5 and I've kicked thousands of balls during my career, and back the work I've done leading into that. Since the Chicago week I haven't had any problems with my leg at all so that's given me a lot of confidence and reassurance and I've been able to have my kicking sessions per a usual test week, so that's encouraging."

After surviving many close tests over the years - including the recent Brisbane boilover when Colin Slade kicked the winning conversion and the 2011 World Cup final when Stephen Donald kicked the winning points - no one needs to tell Hansen of the importance of goalkickers in high-pressure situations.