KEY POINTS:
Best the All Black coaches were not watching some of their squad yesterday riding pushbikes through the streets of Aix-en-Provence.
They have all been encouraged to get out and mingle with the locals during their World Cup stay in France but some of the interaction looked hazardous.
A case of large men such as Neemia Tialata, Joe Rokocoko and Rodney So'oialo, without helmets, on bicycles which looked too brittle for their frames, doing their best to remember strange road rules in busy traffic.
If it was unnerving watching All Black captain Richie McCaw hurt his shoulder in training last week this was equally unsettling. But the team were keen to make the most of their new base, about 40km north of Marseille after transferring there by train from Lyon.
The most exasperated tourist is lock Keith Robinson, who will not play this week against Scotland with a decision looming about whether his ongoing calf injury means he needs to be replaced.
Fellow Waikato teammate Mils Muliaina will also miss the match because of a slight hamstring strain but former skipper Reuben Thorne is expected to play some part.
Assistant coach Steve Hansen, who rejoined the team for the Portugal game after visiting his ill mother in New Zealand, said the selectors wanted to give Robinson more time to recover.
"We're still confident we've got enough time to do that, we're still confident it will come right," he said.
"We're not panicking just yet. When that time comes, we'll let you know."
Thought had been given to a replacement - the logical player would be Troy Flavell - but they were prepared to delay that decision.
Meanwhile, fellow coach Wayne Smith and Sir Brian Lochore were in Cardiff on reconnaissance to watch Australia play Wales.
