Jeremy Guscott: McCaw’s a worry…but bring on the Boks. I can’t wait!

We must hope All Blacks coach Steve Hansen is right in his assessment of the injury to his captain Richie McCaw. “Five to six weeks out,” was Hansen’s reaction to McCaw limping off with a medial ligament injury to his left knee.
At 32 years of age and having just returned from a six-month sabbatical, McCaw does not want an injury which could keep him out for months.
That said, Sam Cane is a very able replacement in this Kiwi machine that has yet to fire properly in this tournament.
The scoreline of 28-15 doesn’t suggest a convincing win for the All Blacks, however the conditions and the Kiwi tactics did not help. The heavens opened up after a few minutes of the start and New Zealand still tried to play an expansive game rather than keeping it simple.
Their back row played well despite McCaw’s injury. The scrum was a great tussle, a real arm wrestle with one pack getting the ascendancy and then the other. The new Laws have allowed the scrum to be a real contest and providing they’re refereed correctly they will remain so.
Dan Carter played an average game for him. His kicking was off with only a 62 per cent success and that will need to be spot on next week against a confident Springbok team fresh from demolishing the Wallabies 38-12.
The Blacks have found another backrow star in Steven Luatua. He made some great rampaging runs and I am eager to see how he tries to power through the likes of Willem Alberts and Duane Vermuelen.
Full-back Israel Dagg was quiet, he can’t seem to get himself involved – a bit like Israel Folau is finding for Australia. Neither are getting the best of luck but Dagg, playing for New Zealand, must believe he’ll get more chances soon.
Argentina‘s opening try after five minutes was the kind I would expect the All Blacks to score – but roles were reversed surprisingly. Pouncing on errors is the trademark of Kiwi play, but this time they got done.
Debutant centre Francis Saili dropped a simple pass from Carter just outside his own 22, prop Juan Figallo picked it up and quick passes between him, Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe and Santiago Fernandez put Juan Manuel Leguizamon clear to score.
But if that try gave Argentina the chance to win their first ever game against the All Blacks they then made it mission impossible after 22 minutes when Eusebio Guinazo was sin-binned for causing an obstruction five metres from his line to prevent the continuation of a Kiwi attack.
Within four minutes of the Puma hooker being binned New Zealand had scored two tries through Aaron Smith and put the game to bed.
The first was the result of great work from Kieran Read who carried the ball from the back of a maul five metres out from the Puma line. He accelerated into contact and passed behind the back of the tackler. Aaron Smith had read the intent and was on the end of the pass to score.
Smith’s second try started from a break by Carter on his own 22. He spotted the slow second row, Julio Farias Cabello, loitering in the defensive line, put him down with a quick version of snake hips, and Carter was clean through. Surprisingly, no support was following DC and he had to wait for the infantry to arrive.
Of course it did, and the ball went right to wing Ben Smith. From 25 yards out he kicked the ball over the defence and Aaron Smith won the foot race to touch down.
New Zealand’s third and last try came from massive pressure put on Puma scrum-half Martin Landajo, who twice had kicks charged down.
The second was by Read, who gathered the ball and sprinted into the Pumas’ 22 before being brought down. Quick recycled ball was followed by swift, accurate passing down the line from Carter to Saili to Conrad Smith who then floated a lovely pass for Julian Savea to score his first try of the Championship and put New Zealand 25-13 ahead.
Beauden Barrett added a penalty in the 74th minute to make the final score 28-13.
There will be great confrontations all over the field next week but the big test does come up front. Can the Kiwis subdue the Boks behemoth pack of forwards?
Will the quicker Kiwis outpace the slower Springboks? It’s so intriguing, I can’t wait for next week’s game, the Boks are in great form, winning in Brisbane for the first time, they must fancy their chances against the Blacks at Eden Park.