What are they thinking?

First off, if the All Blacks had a rifle they would surely be in great danger of severely shooting themselves in the foot regarding Conrad Smith and Malakai Fekitoa.

No argument from me at all about Smith wanting to be at the bedside for the birth of his child in whatever circumstances. However what I find hard to fathom is the summation from the el supremo Mr Hansen himself that should Conrad’s other half give birth after a quick labour then it would be feasible for Smith to quickly get back on a plane for a three hour journey back to Sydney and so rejoin the squad in match-ready condition; that being with Smith close to a hundred percent ready across all his mental and physical capacities before kick-off. Aahhh? Sorry, not even the special player that is Conrad.

At best this line of thinking is extremely hopeful, at worst it is almost folly to think that this is an acceptable way to prepare for a test against as skilled, desperate and dangerous opponent as the Wallabies most definitely are. After all, we’re not lining up against Fiji or Georgia tomorrow night.

And how is the young turk Fekitoa supposed to get his head around his preparation for a possible start with not actually knowing whether or not he will in fact be doing so?!

Furthermore, this will he/won’t he fiasco can only be detrimental to the whole team’s chances of procuring a victory. After all, we are going for a world record here. All I can feel at the moment is a world record farce and stuff-up coming up. Heck, I hope I’m wrong…

Please oh great and gruff one, give us one way or the other…now