1
All Blacks suffer injury blow ahead of clash against France
The All Blacks will be tasked with bouncing back from their stunning defeat to Ireland over the weekend without the services of midfielder Anton Lienert-Brown.
ADVERTISEMENT
Lienert-Brown left the field with a partial dislocated shoulder injury in the first half of his side’s 29-20 defeat at Aviva Stadium in Dublin yesterday.
The 26-year-old travelled to Paris with the All Blacks on Monday [NZT] ahead of this weekend’s season-ending test against France, but All Blacks head coach Ian Foster confirmed Lienert-Brown will play no part in that match.
“Anton has subluxed his shoulder so he’s in a sling, just as a precautionary, but he’ll be out of this week’s game,” Foster told reporters on Monday.
Lienert-Brown was joined in making an early exit from the match in the Irish capital by first-five Beauden Barrett, who never returned to action after failing a head injury assessment midway through the first half.
Foster said Barrett will continue to be monitored over the course of the next 48 hours as his fitness and availability is assessed for New Zealand’s final game of the year at the Stade de France.
Lienert-Brown’s season, though, has come to a premature end, and Foster will be forced to survey his options in search of a new No 12, who is likely to partner Rieko Ioane after his start at centre against Ireland.
ADVERTISEMENT
That leaves the All Blacks boss with inexperienced duo David Havili and Quinn Tupaea at his disposal.
Havili was the preferred second-five option in the early part of the season but has struggled to recapture his impressive form in the face of the rush defence he has come up against when playing the Springboks, Wales and Ireland.
Tupaea, meanwhile, would be presented with the biggest challenge of his young career if he is named to start against the French after having only played six times for the All Blacks since his test debut against Tonga in July.
The most significant international fixture he has been involved with to date was a cameo off the bench in his side’s win over the Springboks in Townsville, where he secured a breakdown penalty for Jordie Barrett to score the match-winning points from.
ADVERTISEMENT
A start against France, one of world rugby’s rising forces, would be a step up from that for Tupaea, but Foster may be swayed by his direct ball-carrying and effective offload game.
The other midfield option is Braydon Ennor, but the four-test international is viewed as more of a centre that can play wing rather than a genuine candidate to play at second-five.
Regardless of who he picks to fill the void in the No 12 jersey, Foster said he is pleased with the depth within his squad.
“I’m comfortable with the options,” Foster said. “We’ve been able to get through this tour really well from an injury perspective so it was disappointing to lose to players within that first half in the backs but that’s life, that’s test match rugby.
“Part of our job from a squad size is we’ve been able to build people and give opportunity so that when it’s their turn to step up they know a little bit about it.
“Whoever gets in that midfield this weekend they’ll be prepared and ready to go.”
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments