Damian McKenzie got through training on Tuesday, and with that the mood inside the All Blacks camp shifted. Assistant coach Tana Umaga confirmed the utility back is on course to face the Springboks at Ellis Park on Saturday, three days after head coach Dave Rennie sounded distinctly less optimistic.
McKenzie sprained an ankle in the tour match against the Sharks in Durban last Tuesday. He has started all three Tests since Rennie took charge, exclusively at full-back rather than the fly-half role he occupied for much of the previous few years, and he was prominent in the Nations Championship wins over France, Italy and Ireland last month.
Rennie, speaking after the win over the Bulls in Pretoria, said the coaching staff were "less confident" about McKenzie's availability and that he would need to survive the week's training. Umaga's update on Tuesday was warmer.
"He was sharp today. He got through what he needed to get through. So, he's trending well for a big one this weekend. So, that's all we can ask," the former All Blacks captain told reporters.
"Our medical staff has done a really good job, as well as our S&C, to make sure that they're taking every precaution they can, but making sure that he puts his best foot forward to be available for the team."
Asked directly whether McKenzie had been ruled out of selection, Umaga answered with a single word: "No."
Cam Roigard is also in line to feature after missing the entire tour with an injury of his own. "Cam's played a hell of a lot of rugby this year, so him not playing so much lately is not a bad thing," Rennie said. Noah Hotham has been called into the squad with Cortez Ratima nursing an injury.
The genuine selection headache is elsewhere. Caleb Clarke flew home from the tour with a shoulder injury, and Stephen Donald believes that single absence has complicated the entire back three.
"Well, he's a tough little cookie," Donald said of McKenzie on The Aftermatch with Kirst and Beav. "So, I do anticipate him playing, but if he doesn't, it'll be intriguing.
"Obviously Caleb Clarke's injury probably muddies the water even further. So I think it would have been a lot easier to make that decision had Caleb been around, because I think you then just shifted Will Jordan to full-back and you've got a Caleb Clarke starting."
Without Clarke, Donald reasons, moving Jordan to 15 would leave two relatively raw wings - Josh Moorby and Leroy Carter - flanking him, unless Rieko Ioane is shifted out to the left for experience.
"It's probably underselling Leroy. Leroy's played the Springboks. He's played a lot of big Test matches. He's played a lot of big venues. So it's probably not too much of a stretch for Leroy and a Moorby there, but I think McKenzie would be right. I'd be staggered if he wasn't."
Umaga was rather less accommodating on a separate point: the widely repeated claim that three tour matches against United Rugby Championship opposition have left New Zealand sharper than a Springbok side that has not played since 8 August.
Sir Steve Hansen made that argument on the Rugby Unity podcast. "South Africa will be at their most vulnerable in this game because they haven't played together for a while, because of injuries, with no game time available to them other than the Argentinian Test, where they didn't take a lot of their top liners," Hansen said, before adding the caveat that it is still Ellis Park against the world's top-ranked side.
Hansen also argued the tour games served a purpose beyond fitness. "You're practicing the things you want to be able to do to a really high level at Test level, but you're practicing against opposition that wants to rip your head off, and that's what we've seen."
Umaga does not buy the advantage.
"No, not at all. This South African side has been together for a long time," he said. "They know what it takes to win big matches, and their game is very solid, and they know what they can rely on. So, I don't think there's much advantage in us having more games.
"To be honest, we've played 44 players in those three games. So, everyone's got a run around anyway."
Both squads are named on Thursday.
