Saturday 18 June 2016 14:35, UK
New Zealand coach Steve Hansen has delivered a positive update on Aaron Cruden after the All Blacks fly-half was stretchered off during the 36-22 victory over Wales.
Cruden suffered a neck injury in a ruck during the first half of the second Test at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington.
The match was held up for 10 minutes while the 27-year-old received treatment on the pitch and he was taken to hospital for precautionary X-rays.
Hansen revealed after the match that early indications were good and that the injury was not serious.
"Doc has been in touch and it sounds like he is going to be okay," Hansen said. "They're just doing some precautionary things at the moment but the word is he's pretty good.
"When he got tackled, Luke Charteris - by accident, not deliberately - ended up catching him and bending his neck over as he came over the top.
"So there was a bit of a crack, but by all accounts from the hospital there's nothing damaged, they're pretty positive."
Cruden, who had scored five points through a conversion and a penalty before he left the field, was replaced by Beauden Barrett who had a major impact on the match by scoring a try and kicking three conversions during the second half as New Zealand took control of the game.
Hansen also said Malakai Fekitoa, who missed part of the first half and the entire second, was not seriously injured.
The coach said the centre had facial cuts which were bleeding heavily, prompting a decision to take him off.
Hansen was pleased with his side's performance compared with that in Auckland last weekend.
"There was a lot more clarity in what we were trying to do," he said. "We scored five good tries and any time you do that you have to be happy with your attack.
"We also defended really well for long periods of time. There was a lot more intensity in the hit.
"There were a lot more dominating tackles than we had last week. This week we came forward and put pressure on."
