Braid's just the man to test McCaw

By WYNNE GRAY


For a large chunk of this rugby season, Daniel Braid was a forlorn figure at Eden Park.

His right shoulder was too damaged to complete the Super 12, his chances of All Black selection were gone and there was some doubt he would even return for the NPC.

Just attending training was tough for the 23-year-old. He could do some rehab but nothing much more than watch and wonder as his team did their business. It was a gloomy time for Braid, who had been picked for the All Blacks' tour to Europe in 2002 and last year's World Cup.

Soon after that tournament he had surgery to fix his ac joint but he suffered further problems soon after his return to the Super 12.

"They took away the ac joint by the end of the clavicle because it was just grinding and I couldn't lift my arm above my head," Braid recalls. "Then during the Super 12, I landed on the point of it with two people's bodyweight on top of me and I tore ligaments holding the bone down.

"It was the time it was going to take to heal, it was unknown. I played about four games of Super 12 but I was never really confident about the shoulder."

But while Auckland have been working through their schizophrenic season, Braid has been one player prodding away at the All Black selectors.

In a tough field against openside competitors Richie McCaw, Marty Holah, Ben Herring, Josh Blackie and Craig Newby, Braid is asking the questions.

He has put in as much work as his mother Sue, who travels from her Tauranga base for each Auckland home game, and weeks ago watched another son, Luke, play in the morning in Rotorua before driving to Auckland then returning home.

Auckland will need similar dedication if they are to get home against Canterbury at Eden Park tonight and for Braid it is the chance to match his repertoire against McCaw.

No question, Braid says, McCaw is numero uno.

A big man, his fitness was extraordinary, his speed right up there, and he was superb at defending the opposition's starter moves from set phase.

According to the statistics, Braid is 1.86m and 98kg, easily the smallest of the six loose forwards on Eden Park tonight. Those numbers do not worry Braid, nor did they worry John Mitchell when he was national coach. Graham Henry was also a huge admirer of Braid when he ran the Blues.

"I think I may have a bit of an advantage being closer to the ground," Braid chuckled. "It is all about getting to the breakdown, getting your hands on the ball."

For Braid that standard came against Taranaki when he dominated the tackle, ruck and maul counts. He also got two tries that day, and another to clinch a patchy win last week against Southland.

But this is an All Black trial within a must-win NPC game. This is the pressure game where selectors watch to see who copes and who wilts. Braid and McCaw is just one of the fascinating comparisons.

Test reputations litter each side, with Auckland's Brent Ward, David Gibson, Jerome Kaino and Saimone Taumoepeau and Canterbury's Scott Hamilton, Casey Laulala and Jamie Nutbrown the only players not to have played internationals.

And several are making claims, the Taumoepeau/Greg Somerville propping duel one for the scrummaging purists. Similarly the advancing claims of the ball-carrying, lineout-leaping blindside flanker Kaino can be judged against the experienced workaholic Reuben Thorne.

Then there will be comparisons between All Black hooker Keven Mealamu and World Cup wildcard Corey Flynn, who seems to be able to do everything, except throwing to the lineout, better than most.

Making predictions about these sort of heavyweight clashes can be difficult. Often the occasion and the pressure stifle anticipation, caution overrides expression. The most heat is on Auckland.

A loss confirms they have conceded their NPC crown and playoff chances to impress the All Black selectors. Even if they beat their old rivals, Auckland's passage may still depend on other results.

Defeat for Canterbury will not terminate their NPC campaign but it will create doubts.

Even with all the conjecture about new faces in the All Blacks, most attention will be on the senior pros, Carlos Spencer and Andrew Mehrtens, who have not opposed each other for some time.

If the post Tri-Nations noises from the All Black staff were interpreted correctly, neither Spencer nor Mehrtens was seen as a huge success. But both have returned some fine work in their NPC campaigns.

Spencer or Mehrtens is likely to be retained for the tour to Europe, but not both, and tonight the most crucial inspection could fall on the most experienced players.


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