1
All Blacks prospect dealt injury blow on eve of new Super Rugby season
Highly-touted Crusaders lock Quinten Strange has been dealt a cruel injury blow in the opening week of the 2020 Super Rugby campaign.
ADVERTISEMENT
A broken bone in his right hand means the 23-year-old will miss the Crusaders’ season-opening fixture against the Waratahs in Nelson on Saturday.
Strange sustained the injury during his side’s 41-7 pre-season thrashing of the Highlanders in Wanaka last week, and is expected to be sidelined for up to five weeks.
Continue reading below…
The fractured hand is especially painful for promising youngster, who was expected to line up alongside captain Scott Barrett in the second row this weekend, given that he will miss out on the opportunity to play in front of his home crowd at Trafalgar Park.
“Really gutted for him, especially heading into this game at home. Nelson College, Collingwood lad. He was devastated,” Crusaders assistant coach Andrew Goodman told media on Tuesday.
Strange’s frustration is understandable considering this week presented a rare opportunity for a starting role in the absence of All Blacks star Sam Whitelock, who is on sabbatical in Japan with Top League club Panasonic.
Whitelock, Barrett and Blues skipper Patrick Tuipulotu are all likely to return to the All Blacks this year, but with Brodie Retallick on two-season sabbatical in Japan with the Kobe Steelers, there will be at least one vacant spot in the national set-up that needs filling.
ADVERTISEMENT
The departure of five-test former Highlanders utility forward Jackson Hemopo to the Mitsubishi Dynaboars seems to have paved the way for Strange, who is one of the highly-regarded young locks in the country, to challenge for a place in Ian Foster’s squad.
However, this injury has provided an unwelcome delay to what’s expected to be a coming-of-age season for the former New Zealand U20 representative.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7rh_gkgkhc/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Mitchell Dunshea, who started in last year’s final in place of the injured Barrett, and former All Black Luke Romano are now the frontrunners for a place in this week’s run-on side.
Rookie Cullen Grace will also be in contention, while ex-Highlanders lock Alex Ainley has been training with the squad, and featured in the team’s 40-19 pre-season win over the Hurricanes in Ashburton a fortnight ago.
ADVERTISEMENT
Strange joins flanker Billy Harmon (knee) and Ethan Blackadder (shoulder) in the Crusaders’ injury ward, but Goodman confirmed that the remainder of the squad, including the side’s eight All Blacks, will all be available for selection against the Waratahs.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
I knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
103 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
103 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
103 Go to commentsHo hum.
103 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
103 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
103 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
103 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
103 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
103 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
103 Go to commentsWith all the analysis and how good the all blacks were.The fundamental mistake with the ABs is that this is a test match and not an exhibition.There is no better team(country) in world rugby than the Boks that knows how to win a test match(we are post masters at this).We know our rules, we have the discipline, we tackle like beasts, we take our points and we never give up.I now have educated the ABs supporters(at least say thank you).Please stop “bitching” , accept what the outcome is and move along swiftly.
103 Go to commentsAnd they came from behind to win two big games before the final. No one can say what would have happened. Had the boks gone behind the game plan changes and the result may changes. Ifs and ands are irrelevant. The boks won. Neutral critics enjoyed the games they played. Its not a popularity contest. Get over it and move on.
103 Go to commentsI'm happy for the people of SA to get a second WC. And I mean that. I was very disappointed with this man's “stand on the hand” incident with Josh Van Der Flyer (Ireland). Ireland's downfall in the last WC was they did not rotate their first 15 as the head coach probably should have. That said, I'm happy for SA and genuinely hope it lifts the mood in their country. Ireland did beat them in the first match of the tournament. And before the trolls start trolling ….. please don't bother. Etzbeth said recently that the Irish players said after the match “see you in the final”…..this was actually wishing the SA team the best of luck in the rest, the Irish team were not dismissing the AB’s. This is what Etzbeth was implying. But he was wrong. I no longer live in Ireland. But I hope to see them lift that cup before I pass. Anyway, congratulations SA. 👍
12 Go to commentsMore bloody click bait. Dan Carter has said absolutely nothing. As he should do. Poor journalism again from a site that should know better
9 Go to commentsOh god please help these loosers get over it!!!! You lost. Doesn't matter how many times you dummies are gonna analyse the game, you still lost and we are still Rygby World Champions….get over it, you lost.
103 Go to commentsThe next Willie le Roux. SA are made not to use him.
3 Go to commentsDan has always been as controversial as tea with milk so we were never going to get any definitive answer. So DMac for the win.
9 Go to comments