It will truly be a good Friday this week for All Blacks No 8 Scott Robertson if he receives the all clear to play for the Crusaders in their Super 12 match against the Brumbies on Sunday.

He did not take part in the Crusaders' contact training session on Tuesday, but will be given more time to prove he has recovered sufficiently from the calf injury which forced him to miss the win over the Reds on March 17.

Crusaders coach Robbie Deans said a decision on Robertson's (pictured) availability would be made on Friday when the starting 15 to play the Brumbies would be named. "Razor's going well, but he's got a wee way to go yet," he said.

Two other All Blacks, hooker Mark Hammett and fullback Leon MacDonald, rested on Tuesday after picking up some bumps and bruises in the match against the Reds, but Deans said it was purely precautionary and they should be fit for Sunday.

Robertson sustained the calf strain in the first half of the Crusaders' match against the Blues on March 9. He had to leave the field and was unable to be considered for the Queensland match.

He said then that he hoped last weekend's bye would give him time to get fully fit again and he was targeting the Brumbies as his comeback match. The aim remained the same, he said on Tuesday.

"Friday I get fitness assessed and if I'm ready, so be it. We're going day by day to see how it feels. But all going well I'll get in a team run-in. A Sunday game has given me an extra couple of days. That's been my goal since the injury started, so here's hoping."

All Blacks fullback Ben Blair is now confident he could play against the Brumbies after recovering from persistent knee pain, which first flared during Canterbury's NPC campaign last season and kept him out of all rugby since the Test against Argentina in early December.

He has made rapid progress over the past fortnight, can now run freely again at top pace and trained fully on Tuesday. "It's not 100 per cent yet, but it's much better." - Sapa