All Blacks: Nonu unlikely to be risked against Wallabies

Ma'a Nonu is unlikely to be risked against the Wallabies. Photo / Brett Phibbs.

Ma'a Nonu is unlikely to be risked against the Wallabies in Sydney on Saturday night but scans on his injured shoulder showed no signs of serious damage.

After leaving the field six minutes into the second half of last month's win over the Springboks, Nonu's health was the main injury concern in an All Blacks squad featuring a few question marks.

But Nonu could play some part in the two Bledisloe Cup tests, even if the presence of Sonny Bill Williams, Malakai Fekitoa and Ryan Crotty meant there was no need to rush the veteran back into the side.

"It's too early to tell," coach Steve Hansen said of Nonu's immediate availability. "We're not going to risk him if he's not right - it's a big season and we've got plenty of cover there, so we'll just see how it goes."

A desire to build plenty of cover in every position has seen Highlanders wing Patrick Osborne handed a maiden call-up to the international environment. Osborne impressed in partnership with Waisake Naholo for the Super Rugby champions and his teammate's broken leg opened the door ever so slightly for the 28-year-old.

"With Waisake out for three months and Cory [Jane] still struggling with his injuries, we just wanted to make sure we that we had someone else who's been in the environment," Hansen said. "If we ended up going to the World Cup and needing some outside players, and those two guys weren't available, then we'd have someone who's been here and feels comfortable. It was a bit of pre-planning, really."

Jane's hopes of earning selection in the World Cup squad are diminishing the longer he spends on the sidelines, with his latest ankle injury almost certainly precluding his involvement in either test against Australia. Hansen insisted Jane was still a chance of booking a seat on the plane to England but the wing needed to feature for Wellington in the ITM Cup, at least.

"It's making it harder [to select him]," Hansen said. "It doesn't make it impossible, though. He's a world class player when he's right but he certainly hasn't had a season that he'd want to put in his album of all-time greats.

"Cory's problem is he's just been repeatedly injured this year, and [the World Cup] is a tournament that you don't really want to be taking high-risk athletes to, because once you lose them they're gone for the competition.

"He's got an opportunity because he's got good runs on the board from the past but we need to see him back out on the track at some stage for the Lions and see how he's going."

Charlie Faumuina is in a similar situation to Jane, though the prop had played plenty of rugby this season before undergoing neck surgery. With Hansen impressed by what he had seen from Nepo Laulala, there was also a need for Faumuina to take the field for Auckland before the World Cup squad is selected.

"He'll be in [camp] this week so we'll assess that and see how he's going," Hansen said. "The operation's gone really well, he has no pain, so now it's just a matter of getting the strength back in the right areas, his neck and his arm. That seems to be coming along quite nicely."

Fellow prop Wyatt Crockett was another who wouldn't feature this week against Australia, leaving the squad for family reasons but available for the return clash in Auckland on August 15.