Richie McCaw says foot injury just a ‘niggle’

New Zealand skipper Richie McCaw has moved to dampen public anxiety over his foot injury, saying it isn’t causing him huge discomfort and he isn’t playing with pain-killing injections.

With star five-eighth Dan Carter already out of the Rugby World Cup with a groin injury, the All Blacks can ill-afford to lose their captain as well.

Asked on Saturday about his fitness ahead of the quarter-final against Argentina in Auckland on Sunday night, McCaw said: “I’m good to go, the foot feels fine.”

In February, McCaw was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his right foot and he had a pin surgically inserted.

The 30-year-old flanker returned for the second half of the Super Rugby season with the Crusaders, although he has continued to have problems with the foot.

Last week, he withdrew from the last pool match against Canada and he has had a restricted workload in practice ahead of the encounter with Argentina.

McCaw was confident he had been able to do enough in his preparation to perform well in what will be his 101st Test.

“There’s always times where you’ve missed the odd training here and there because of niggles,” he told journalists.

“I would like to think that, after having played this game for a few years, that you understand what you need to do to go out and perform.”

McCaw believed too much had been made of the level of discomfort he felt in the foot, saying it was something that came and went.

“I’ve said it’s only a niggle,” he said.

“It’s not as though you’re running around, [in] excruciating [pain].”

He said that, like all rugby players, he had had to cope with niggly injuries during his career.

“Probably everyone is getting a bit excited about it,” he said.

“It’s frustrating, there’s no doubt, when you’ve got things that aren’t quite right, but you just deal with them.”

NZN rlo/gjw/rj

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