KEY POINTS:
How the Rugby World Cup squad is shaping up four weeks out from kick-off with charity work, book selling and injury watching
Pretty in pink
Ali Williams recovered from the Christchurch training camp by supporting a charity which runs a fitness programme for recovering breast-cancer patients.
Pink Pilates, created by physiotherapist and former All Black Steve Devine's wife Lou James, launched a range of Claire Kingan-designed hoodies on Thursday night.
"I'm just helping out a friend and, obviously, it's for a good cause," said Williams, at Kingan Jones Newmarket store.
But he was less forthcoming about his training regime 29 days out from the World Cup.
"I'm not talking about rugby."
Oi! buy my book or else!
All Black hard man Jerry Collins has been doing the hard-sell this week for his book, Jerry Collins' Road to the World Cup.
The book compares this campaign with 2003, although ultimately it's only going to be the result which determines whether the 2007 crop have been better prepared.
Collins tells how he worked on minimising the risk of getting penalised for his notoriously tough tackling. While he points out he's only ever had one red card and two yellow cards in his career, he realised several years ago that he needed to improve his technique to avoid the wrath of the refs.
Limping to the line
It's been a week of injury worries for the squad. Keith Robinson (calf), Williams (hamstring), Reuben Thorne (shoulder) and Richie McCaw (shoulder) all kept the team physiotherapists busy.
Meanwhile, Neemia Tialata is still living in la-la land after the knockout punch from Hawkes Bay's Clint Newland.
See you later, guys
This will be the last weekend to see any All Blacks in the Air New Zealand Cup. Doug Howlett (Auckland), Brendon Leonard (Waikato), and Andrew Hore (Taranaki) are playing in this weekend's round. After that, the squad will say au revoir, to their teammates.
D-day
Every team going to the World Cup will have had to have finalised their squad by Tuesday. For New Zealand, the big question will be whether prop Greg Somerville will be judged fit enough.
