All Blacks captain Kieran Read skipped training on Tuesday ahead of their Rugby World Cup semifinal due to a sore calf muscle, but coach Steve Hansen was ¡°100 perent¡± certain he would face England in Yokohama on Saturday.

The 33-year-old Read, who has battled back into superb form after recovering from back surgery at the end of 2017, has kept up his fitness in the gym.

¡°There is no issue. You didn¡¯t see him train because he was in the gym on the bike,¡± Hansen told reporters on Tuesday. ¡°He got a tight calf from the game the other day and we didn¡¯t want to put him out on a wet track.¡±

Asked whether he was confident Read would be fit for the showdown with Eddie Jones¡¯ team, Hansen was definite.

¡°Yeah, 100 percent,¡± he said.

Hansen, however, added that loose forward Matt Todd would not be considered for the game as he was still recovering from a sore shoulder sustained in New Zealand¡¯s 46-14 quarterfinal victory over Ireland.

Todd, who dislocated the shoulder before the tournament and missed the opening game against South Africa, reeled away from a tackle on Saturday holding his left shoulder.

¡°He is making good progress but not fast enough so he won¡¯t be available,¡± Hansen added. ¡°He should be right if we are lucky enough to play another game next week.¡±

Lock Sam Whitelock, however, indicated that the team thought Read¡¯s absence was not at all due to the injury.

¡°A bit of the banter around the team is that he didn¡¯t want to get wet today,¡± Whitelock said. ¡°I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be fine. He¡¯s a tough man, he just didn¡¯t want to get wet.¡±

While the All Blacks appeared confident about Read¡¯s participation on Saturday, they have deliberately downplayed news of injuries in the past.

Former New Zealand captain Richie McCaw played the entire 2011 campaign with a broken foot, yet still managed to lead the side to its first World Cup triumph in 24 years.

McCaw, who retired after he led the team to back-to-back World Cup victories in 2015, barely trained at all during the 2011 tournament and only took to the field for games after taking pain killers.

¡°Thinking back to then Richie didn¡¯t really train for a couple of weeks,¡± Whitelock added.

¡°We used to always have a game of touch at the captain¡¯s run (final training session). A few of the boys couldn¡¯t work out why that got cut.

¡°It wasn¡¯t until after the tournament that a few of the boys realized Richie didn¡¯t want to run.¡±