Nick Cain: Don’t bleed for All Blacks, they don’t care about us

The growing list of New Zealand injuries is starting to worry Steve Hansen. The All Black coach usually does a passable impression of a Gallic shrug when injuries loom and points to the depth of the understudies in the Kiwi talent pool.
Nevertheless, the recent injuries to his captain, Kieran Read, hooker Dane Coles, blindsides Liam Squire and Jerome Kaino, full-back/wings Ben Smith and Israel Dagg, bench fly-half Lima Sopoaga, and pocket-rocket Nehe Milner-Skudder mean the former Christchurch copper is feeling edgy. Any more bad tidings and Hansen's shrug could even mutate into the nervous tic that Herbert Lom's Chief Inspector Dreyfus developed in the Pink Panther every time Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau came into close proximity.
With the Lions due to arrive in only three weeks, the injuries to No.8 Read and Coles could put a serious crack in the spine of the New Zealand pack. Read was schooled from way back with both the Crusaders and the All Blacks to be Richie McCaw's understudy, and to take over when the peerless double World Cup-winning captain retired.
The impressive manner in which Read has taken on the leadership role, helping Hansen to plaster over the post 2015 World Cup departures of not only McCaw and Dan Carter, but senior pros like Keven Mealamu, Ma'a Nonu, Conrad Smith and Tony Woodcock, as well as squad members such as Victor Vito, Liam Messam, Ben Franks and Colin Slade, makes him indispensable.
The 31-year-old Read has a wealth of experience with 97 caps, and he not only provides New Zealand with tactical direction but also stiffens the backbone of the side with his almost feral commitment.
Added to that, Read's athleticism is one of the key hubs around which Hansen's high tempo game plan spins. He acts as a dual playmaker with scrum-half Aaron Smith from the base of the scrum, and is a key source of quick, crisp ball from the tail of the line-out. The Crusaders No.8's dynamism and the quality of his handling have been an ever-present component in New Zealand's success since he made his Test debut in 2008.
It is no exaggeration that Read is an essential part of Hansen's strategy to beat the Lions – and that without him the All Blacks will be severely weakened. After breaking his thumb against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein a week ago, Read had it operated on in South Africa before flying home.
The New Zealand captain is expected to be out of action for six weeks, which means he could be back playing again – at best – two weeks prior to the first Test against the Lions in Auckland on June 24.
Hansen's back row news took another turn for the worse when blindside Squire was involved in another thumb war against the Cheetahs. It emerged that the Highlanders No.6 had broken his right thumb making a tackle in their high veld comeback on Friday night.
With Kaino also on the sick list, with the veteran blindside recuperating from knee surgery, the first choice All Black back row is not looking in great shape. New Zealand have never been short of good loose forwards, but even so Hansen will be concerned that he is in danger of losing a talisman in Read, the experience and physical clout of Kaino, and also his recently tried-and-tested replacement Squire.
The continued unavailability of Coles, who has developed into a brilliant ball-playing carrier over the last two years as well as an excellent set-piece hooker, will be of equal concern. Hurricanes captain Coles has not played a game since the middle of March, and is said to be weeks away from making a return following a litany of injuries.
These include a knee problem, followed by a calf muscle tear – and then, last week, it emerged that the X-factor hooker was also suffering from concussion. It is a strange footnote that no information was forthcoming from the Hurricanes as to how, or when, Coles had sustained the head knock.
It was evident that the pressure was mounting on Hansen when a relatively mild suggestion by Lions coach Warren Gatland that the injuries would be a “concern” got under the All Black coach's skin.
“Gatland likes playing mind games with his players, and it looks like he wants to try and play them with us,” Hansen said. “I don't find playing mind games with your players is a great idea, especially our guys as they are way too smart to fall for that stuff.”
If Gatland was his target, it looks like Hansen missed. But when it comes to the subject of injuries, and the acknowledgement of how they can weaken the opposition, New Zealand coaches have never displayed much empathy.
The broken ankle suffered by the talismanic Lions No.8 Lawrence Dallaglio in the opening match of the 2005 Lions tour against Bay of Plenty did not draw much, if any, commentary from New Zealand ranks about the loss to the upcoming series of a world-class player. Instead, there were simply perfunctory mentions that one of the tourists' key players was done. As for the Brian O'Driscoll mugging in the first Test, I have made my views clear before now on the disgraceful disciplinary farce and the Kiwi closing of ranks that surrounded it.
Should the Lions win the 2017 series it is certain that they would want to do so against the best that New Zealand have, rather than a team depleted by injuries. Yet, it is inevitable that both teams will lose key players, either before the series or during it, and if the All Blacks suffer the depredations of injury in the way the tourists habitually do, there are not many Lions supporters who will be wringing their hands in anguish.