McCaw out of first four Tri-Nations matches

New Zealand have suffered a blow ahead of the Tri-Nations after captain Richie McCaw was ruled out of the opening four matches.

The open-side flanker suffered a high ankle ligament strain in the 27th minute of the All Blacks 44-12 drubbing of England in the second Test in Christchurch.

McCaw will be out of action for least six weeks and will therefore be unavailable for two matches against South Africa, in Wellington on July 5 and Dunedin on July 12, and two against Australia, in Sydney on July 26 and Auckland on August 2.

There has been no decision made on McCaw's replacement in the squad as yet, even though he is the only open-side in the squad.

Lock Ali Williams is expected to be fit for the opener against the world champions, despite suffering a sprained ankle against England.

Coach Graham Henry admitted that there was plenty of improvement to be made after the England match.

"We're reasonably happy, 44-12 is a good result against a good England team so we're pleased with that," he said.

"We got better as the game went on but still have a lot to work on. But we are scoring tries from set-piece which is very positive.

"The English had some opportunities which didn't go their way, they could have been a lot closer at half-time. I thought they played better than they did last week in patches."