KEY POINTS:
When the All Blacks play a Barbarians invitation today in their final pre-World Cup hit-out, plenty of fingers will be crossed.
But while there's an element of the uncontrollable about what might happen at Trusts Stadium in Waitakere in injury terms, assistant coach Wayne Smith expects the All Blacks will take the smart attitude into the game.
Going into contact situations half-cocked is asking for trouble.
"If you can dominate physically, the less likely you are to get injured," Smith said yesterday.
"You've got to go in hard, but not be stupid. That'll be the approach."
With Reuben Thorne nursing calf/hamstring twinges and lock Keith Robinson getting over his latest calf strain, neither will play today.
The suspicion is both could play if it was a test today, but there's no sense risking further aggravation.
While many World Cup squads are already bumping into each other at European airports as they jet from one practice game to another, the All Blacks fly out to Corsica next week with just a run against New Zealand Police in Christchurch last week and today's game since the end of the Tri-Nations on July 21.
Their first pool C cup game is against Italy in Marseille on September 8.
But Smith is delighted with what he's seen in the past week at camps in Christchurch and Auckland.
"Seventy per cent of these guys have done personal bests in speed and stamina areas. That's good and that's what you want to see.
"They've got a huge base and once you've got that you can build on it."
Smith has detected an edge of excitement among the players, which was missing during the Tri-Nations.
At that point, the World Cup squad had not been announced, there were still selectors to impress. Now there's a single focus.
"This team is pretty determined.
"We know there's a lot of expectations, and you've got to accept that. You can either be under pressure or you can apply it.
"We're well trained, we've got talent, they are secure about what they are doing and we're going to be hard to beat," he added.
Since winning the inaugural cup in New Zealand 20 years ago, the All Blacks have tried four times to win the Webb Ellis Cup again, and failed each time.
That record hangs over the All Blacks but Smith said it can be used in a positive sense.
"You use what you can.
"You've got to remember talking about the last few World Cups can cause a fair bit of anxiety among the guys, so you've got to be careful," he said.
"But we've got to use some of the lessons.
"We're going to try and use those positively and hopefully not fall into the traps that others have fallen into.
"These are good young Kiwi guys who want to do well for their country and I'm really proud of what they've done in the last two years. I wouldn't be anywhere else now, that's for sure."
