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Asafo Aumua's injury confirmed to be left MCL tear

By Ned Lester
Asafo Aumua leads the Hurricanes out of the tunnel. Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images

The Hurricanes have revealed the injury diagnosis for hooker Asafo Aumua who was taken from the field 12 minutes into his performance against the Fijian Drua over the weekend.

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The left knee injury was confirmed to be an isolated MCL tear which will see the All Black miss 6-8 weeks of rugby.

That timeline leaves the potential for Aumua to return during the Super Rugby Pacific playoffs, as his team are well on track to feature in at least the quarter-finals with the last remaining unbeaten record in the competition.

 

Hurricanes captain Brad Shields offered his initial insight into the injury and Aumua’s emotions following the game on Friday.

“He was pretty sore and he’s pretty gutted. He’s a tough man and he doesn’t like to show [any pain] but we’re feeling for him,” Shields told media.

“It’s a similar situation to Cam (Roigard) and while it’s slightly different injuries, nonetheless when you can’t be a part of the team it’s pretty gutting.

“I know he’ll do everything he can to come back in better shape and as quickly as he can but we will make sure we rally behind him.”

As Shields alluded to, Aumua’s injury is the second major setback for the Hurricanes, after All Blacks halfback Cam Roigard went down with a ruptured patella tendon at the start of the month.

Unlike Roigard, Aumua is on track to be available for international selection for Scott Robertson’s All Blacks this year.

Another key difference with Aumua’s injury is that the Hurricanes don’t have an All Black hooker waiting on the bench as they did with TJ Perenara at halfback.

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However, reserve hooker James O’Reilly has enjoyed strong form in 2024 and will get a rare opportunity in the starting unit during Aumua’s absence, having sat behind both Aumua and Dane Coles throughout the majority of his Hurricanes career.

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1 Comment
F
Forward pass 163 days ago

He was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.

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JW 29 minutes ago
Boks and Pumas lead southern charge, but the north are ahead of the game

I don't think that's the case at all, particularly lock is a very bad example to make the point with anyway.


For eg; LSL would likely be the only local player (lock) in the side. There would be no Frost, or Williams, so no 'development'. If aussie had different selection policies the locks would all be overseas players, Skelton, the Arnolds, players I've seen from youth leveling up in Japan and qualifying for them instead, and no doubt there is a plethora of others that hit some good form in England or France, and who if included in a Wallaby environment at the time, might continue have played to their peak instead of turning into 'just' journeymen. I don't follow aus rugby enough for examples of this context but I reckon it would crowd out a position like lock (but is a good positive for the idea of selecting from offshore in general). Essentially there would be a lot of good players that left aussie shores upon making a name for themselves that would continue to remain in the national side, all but removing the need to blood young and unready local talent.


It of course would not be the same for every position, perhaps blindside would be the only other position where the amount of quality that is offshore compared to home would lead to the exclusion of local talent, and it wouldn't exclude rotating in the types of young player like Frost and Williams, but would Bell have become an international success so young? Other positions would be more where the gain of say including an experienced 10 or outside back would be dividends. But then you've also got to factor in whether the players those veterans would be trying to impart there global experience on would still be playing in Australia? Would Jorgensen be enough of a talent for a big French club to snap up? Or hungry for props like Bell and Tupou? Would they see how Ireland made use of Hansen and gun for Wright or one of the other very good Brumbie outsides? What's the point of having an experienced pro like Hodge in the squad when Wrights already overseas now in this new 'world' learning what there is of the French style himself?


The thing is your 'small' talent pool, suddenly becomes very 'large' selecting from offshore. The disconnect is it taking upto 3 times as long for people to flying back home, than say from Japan (or from EU to SA), along with the typical style mismatch's, not so much an ego thing. But with a lack of a DNA like SA, it might mean a lot more 'battles' between the respective styles and practices players are bringing back to camp. Can be only a positive in the right environment.


I think what they have now is the best of both worlds. There might be like 4 or 5 players they bring back, no disruption, no battle of the best way to play. You may have an important front rower like BPA, a world class player like Skelton, any number of veteran 10's, and a backline rock like Kerevi (not saying all these players would have been fit and ready to play international rugby, just imagine them at their peak for arguments sake). And that's what they have. It's what they'll likely go back to doing (if they get lucky with those generational players) for the next WC, even from now for the Lions. So I just don't think the 'picture' yuo outlined would be like reality, that's not to say I don't think there wouldn't be enough positives elsewhere to outweigh the negatives. Certainly going to another franchise for just 2 or 3 years before coming back would be a good development, but that idea is based on money that is not in the game at the moment.

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