Cullen not 100 percent yet
July 31, 2001

Christian Cullen has said he will only make his All Black return when he feels 100 percent, and that is unlikely to be in time for the Bledisloe Cup encounter with the Wallabies on August 11.

The full back is coming back from a serious knee injury and attended training with the All Blacks in Cristchurch today, coming through a full session apparently unscathed.

But afterwards he said he thought there was still work to be done before he can be sure he is ready to return and that he was only expecting to be back in two or three weeks time.

Cullen has had two operations on the same knee during the last year and is looking to return to club rugby with Wellington first before getting back into the international fold.

"It's not a 100 percent but it's getting there. It's on the up, pretty encouraging," he said. "It's not as strong as the left (knee) but I'm running around and I'm confident. Hopefully I'll get through this week without any incident and flare-ups."

All Blacks doctor John Mayhew they were looking at things on a daily basis but that it was improving.

The All Black management are pleased with Cullen's progress but won't be putting a time scale on his return leaving it to the player himself to indicate when he feels the time is right.

Wayne Smith and his team are not too bothered about being seen as being too conservative regarding Cullen's return.

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