All Blacks skipper McCaw : I am fit to play

All Blacks captain Richie McCaw attempted to calm an anxious New Zealand on the eve of their World Cup quarter-final against Argentina by saying his troublesome foot was not a problem after all. McCaw pulled out of two pool matches as he continued to be troubled by a foot injury, dating back to surgery for a stress fracture at the start of the year. With star playmaker Dan Carter (groin) already out of the tournament, New Zealand could ill-afford to lose their captain and three-times world player of the year as well, and McCaw said Saturday that was not going to happen. "I'm good to go," the 30-year-old flanker insisted. "The foot feels good after a bit of rest at the end of last week and over the weekend so I trained on it yesterday (Friday) and it's good." His assurance came a day after conflicting signals from All Blacks head coach Graham Henry who said McCaw faced a "big mental challenge" and it was "a matter of trying to make sure he's available" for each remaining game. Earlier, assistant coach Steve Hansen said McCaw was being kept away from "physical, hard, body-contact stuff" in training. Hansen's use of the word "pain" sent alarm bells through New Zealand with the country desperate to end a 24-year run without the World Cup, but McCaw denied he required painkillers and dispelled the notion he was in agony. "I think a little much has been made of that to be quite honest," said McCaw, who in the pool win over France became the first player to appear in 100 Tests for New Zealand. "It comes and goes. I said it's only a niggle so it's not as though you're running round with something excruciating. "Every rugby player deals with niggles over their careers. I've done it for 10 years at times and probably everyone's getting a bit excited about it. "It's frustrating, there's no doubt when you've got things that are not quite right, but you just deal with them." McCaw said he had trained with the team on Friday and felt confident he knew how to get his body in shape for a big match. The All Blacks are heavily favoured to beat Argentina and go on to win the tournament but are mindful the side has failed at the past five World Cups after starting as favourites. McCaw, who was also captain when New Zealand were knocked out by France in the quarter-finals four years ago, admitted to a few nerves ahead of the Argentina game but said he did not find the pressure of sudden-death rugby inhibiting. "If you feel that burden or pressure you're not going to, first of all, enjoy it all and you're not going to go out and perform well," he said. "We've got to see this as an opportunity and we've got to look at what we've done as a rugby team, how you've played and the confidence you've got in the guys around you and make sure we put that on the field." The All Blacks would be watching what they could of the other three quarter-finals -- Ireland v Wales, England v France and Australia v South Africa -- but would not get emotionally involved. "You don't want to get caught up in what might happen," McCaw said, with many New Zealand fans already looking forward to an all Tri-Nations encounter against either the Wallabies or the reigning champion Springboks in the semi-finals. "So you watch it purely from a spectator point of view, while preparing as you would for a Test match, to go out and play well and, after that, what will be will be."