Trio on track to meet France

Christchurch - New Zealand assistant coach Wayne Smith says injured stars Richie McCaw, Dan Carter and Mils Muliaina trained on Monday and should be available to play France in the World Cup this week.

The trio was named to play Japan last Friday, but all withdraw two days before the match after hurting themselves in training.

McCaw, who was going to play his 100th test against Japan, complained of a sore calf muscle, Carter his back, and Muliaina his hamstring.

Smith says "Richie had quite a big session, Daniel got through a bit of work today. (He is) still not 100 (percent), but he got through a pretty good training run. Mils got through a lot more sharply than he has done in the last few weeks."

The All Blacks play France on Saturday at Eden Park in the likely decider for the winner of Pool A.