Valentine Holmes, who missed the Cook Islands' loss to Fiji coming back from a syndesmosis injury, has been cleared by the Dragons, Karmichael Hunt said: "he'll be on the plane with us to Christchurch and he'll be able to be selected." Next up: New Zealand.
Marata Niukore, the Cook Islands co-captain, missed the loss to Fiji with the groin and hip problem he has been managing. Karmichael Hunt said: "to not have him available to come into camp, just from a pure presence point of view, it definitely hurt us."
Esan Marsters came into the Cook Islands camp with a partially ruptured Achilles, Karmichael Hunt said, and is still a few games from his best. Taking him off around the 55th minute against Fiji "was really just about getting some fresher legs on there." New Zealand is next.