Scott Robertson delivers promising update on injured All Blacks trio

The All Blacks are tracking well to be at full strength for their Northern Tour after an injury-troubled Rugby Championship.

Most notably, Jordie Barrett looks on track to recover from the MCL injury that kept him out of the second Bledisloe Test in time to return, if not for Tokyo’s Test against Japan at the end of the month, then at Allianz Stadium vs England the following week.

All Blacks head coach delivered that piece of promising news along with two more injury updates after unveiling his Northern Tour squad on Monday.

Uncapped fullback Ruben Love and familiar reserve tighthead prop Fletcher Newell were the other players ruled out of the Bledisloe Cup games and had injury clouds hanging overhead.

“Ruben will play this week… Fletcher’s available this week as well and Jordie’s on track for potentially the Japanese Test. So, it’s good news,” the coach told reporters in Christchurch.

That means Love will suit up for Wellington in their NPC quarter-final against Counties Manukau while Newell may be in line for a return to Canterbury colours in their quarter-final vs Tasman.

It’s unlikely the team will rush Barrett back for the Japan Test, although they may well use it as a chance to reintroduce him to rugby off the bench ahead of their European leg.

Love and Newell are more likely to feature in Tokyo, with a more experimental lineup expected against the world’s 14th-ranked side.

Outside of the selected contingent, Samisoni Taukei’aho remains sidelined after going down with a calf injury in the Super Rugby Pacific semi-final.

With 16 players released to feature in the NPC in round nine, the All Blacks selectors got a chance to see some of their fringe players put some new learnings into action and again prove themselves to be a cut above the rest.

“We actually made a point of putting it on the boys and saying that they need to play like All Blacks and prepare accordingly and have a lot of pride in playing for their province. I think all the boys that fronted up played well,” All Blacks forwards coach Jason Ryan told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.

“(George) Bell got his hands on the ball and he’s building his body nicely to the Test level, (Nick) Gill and the medical team have put some nice work into those boys.

“Pasilio Tosi, I thought he was outstanding for Bay of Plenty and it’s great to see. Patty (Tuipulotu), he looked fresh and sharp for Auckland. As did Dalton (Papali’i), he scored a nice try. All of them put their hand up which is good to see and important.

“(Samipeni Finau) has a point of difference doesn’t he? Especially when he’s on the edge and he ran a couple of good change of angles off the ball and put some guys away that finished tries, so that was good.

“I had a chat with (Waikato head coach) Ross Filipo before the game as well and just made sure that he was on and performed well and got stuck into his game… he fronted up really well and it’s great for him.”