48 hours: Heads in sand when it comes to McCaw

The alarming fuzzies which rose up yet again in Richie McCaw's head have also descended, again, upon key selection areas in the All Blacks.

Just like the worrying health problems surrounding McCaw - the most brilliant rugby player of his generation and a few others - so the concerns keep popping up about the World Cup preparations.

There is no getting away from the scenario that the All Blacks may indeed go into the World Cup, or find out midstream, that their brilliant captain and breakaway can no longer take the field.

The chances of this, in normal circumstances, are reasonably high in an era that demands extraordinary resilience due to the rules and increasing physical power. A player like McCaw, who always bravely contorts his body to get in the firing line, is going to cop a few bullets. His concussion/blurred vision problems only add to the damaging possibilities.

We'd all like to swathe McCaw's head in bandages and bury our own in the sand. It's better than having to face the realities. Yet the McCaw situation is so potentially disastrous to the All Blacks' hopes (and let's hope it isn't to his long-term health) that you just daren't look at times.

Maybe the sporting gods will smile kindly on the Cantabrian and at least see him safely through next year's tournament in Europe.

In the latest case, a Wellington knee banged on McCaw's head leaving him with blurred vision in a match in which the capital's heavyweight ball carriers were also knocking Canterbury senseless. Even when Canterbury did have the ball in the early stages, they merely, although quite skilfully, went from one side of the field to the other. The only line they threatened was the sideline.

But the most concerning sight was McCaw leaving the field early in the second half, followed by yesterday's revelations he suffered blurred vision and that Canterbury coach Rob Penney - knowing his history - took him out of the game for that reason.

Well done to Penney and also McCaw, who is showing admirable thinking concerning his own health. There is no need for heroics. Even when dazed, the All Black captain had the good sense to let those who should know what was going on. In this, he is helping everyone manage his health, as he did in England last year.

Where do the All Blacks turn though if McCaw is sidelined from the captaincy and No 7 jersey. Furthermore, where should they turn if Dan Carter is ever put out of action.

There is a queue of commentators, ex-players and the like ready to confirm that the All Blacks' rest and rotation policy is a must. And yes, they are probably right in general, although not in a few specific cases.

What, though, has the R and R policy brought us in terms of knowing who to have confidence in should the All Black fulcrum - otherwise known as the McCaw-Carter double act - be out of action.

First the captaincy. Jerry Collins is, judging by this season, the next cab off the rank. You'll never hear a word against the Wellington stormtrooper here. But World Cup captain? Hardly a gimme. Collins hasn't been groomed for the job apart from one $@*&^ - to use Jerry-speak - tricky assignment in Argentina. Collins doesn't even lead his provincial or Super 14 sides. The other possibilities are only starting possibilities, like Anton Oliver.

To openside flanker. Chris Masoe? Rodney So'oialo? Both can play belters and So'oialo has a terrific work rate, but neither has an outstanding technique for the openside position. So'oialo would also be a major penalty risk in a position that demands players tangle with the rule book.

Referees who give McCaw the benefit of the doubt could blow their whistles to smithereens if So'oialo was about. There are other candidates - well, make that Waikato's genuine although smallish No 7 Marty Holah.

In the rest and rotation era he's had more test rest than anything else.

To first five-eighths. There won't be another Dan Carter come World Cup time, but at this point, the next option would appear to be Luke McAlister. Frightening. McAlister is a trick-and-treat footballer capable of a big-stage horror show.

Nick Evans is, by some way, the No 10 candidate with the best football brain and allround game, but doesn't appear to rank highly in Graham Henry's plans. Or not that you can tell. Which is the key point, from the sideline eye point of view.

To these eyes, the All Blacks are not much closer to finding world class cover for the No 7 and No 10 jerseys than John Mitchell was to having a Plan B for Tana Umaga at the last World Cup. We all know what happened there.

There may be a hidden master plan to the R and R policy, and the best guess is that, having given just about everyone a go, Henry and his cohorts will soon narrow down the field which, given the scope of the R and R deal, will still leave a paddock full of candidates.

But some of the rest of us feel we are in murky territory, if not the dark. McCaw and Carter are truly great players, rugby geniuses, who cannot genuinely be replaced. Their absence doesn't bear thinking about. Time to hope for the best and put the head back in the sand, perhaps.

High point

Wellington's storming rugby performance against Canterbury.

Low point

A Bathurst tragedy.