Colin Slade sent New Zealand's anxiety levels rising with a minor knee problem but for him and the rest of the All Blacks, today's first training session of the World Cup squad was notable for an improvement in focus and quality.
First-five Slade's niggle isn't serious, but his slip and knee tweak at Wellington's Hutt Recreation Ground was enough to rekindle memories of Dan Carter's groin injury in the same city four years ago during the last World Cup which shocked the nation and ruled him out of the game for a considerable amount of time.
Another to raise a question mark was Sonny Bill Williams, an absentee only due to a cold, but the other 30 players who trained, including Slade before his departure, did without the burden of nervousness and expectation which had plagued them prior to Sunday's squad announcement.
"It was a very different feel," assistant coach Ian Foster said. "The whole thing lifted up quite a few per cent. The intensity levels lifted, the focus was there. It's not like it wasn't there beforehand but certainly the mission now is very clear. Everyone knows that they're on the bus, they've got a role to do and now the heads seem to be very clear today and it was a very pleasing start."
On the day after a visit to the Ngati Toa marae for a reconnection with the kamate haka which has its roots with the iwi, the All Blacks are in full World Cup mode. The excitement within the squad is lifting, and that's fine by Foster and the rest of the coaches.
