Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

Devastating injury update for Wallabies' Samu Kerevi - report

By Liam Heagney
(Photo by Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)

Rugby Australia has yet to have their say but it is believed that Samu Kerevi will miss the rest of 2022 following the injury sustained when playing for his country at last weekend’s Commonwealth Games sevens in England. The 28-year-old damaged his ACL in the pool win over Kenya and didn’t appear in the rest of a tournament that ended with Australia losing out on the semi-finals to South Africa, the eventual champions.

ADVERTISEMENT

Kerevi was Dave Rennie’s starter in the No12 shirt in all three of last month’s Test matches versus England and having been given permission to play sevens in England rather than travel to Argentina for the opening two rounds of the Rugby Championship, the expectation was that the midfielder would link back in with the Wallabies for their August 27 game at home to the Springboks.   

However, that plan has now been scuppered, according to a report on foxsports.com.au. It read: “The Wallabies’ worst fears have been realised, with Samu Kerevi expected to miss the rest of the year due to a knee injury.

Video Spacer

Video Spacer

“It’s understood Kerevi, 28, suffered an ACL injury during Australia’s narrow 7-5 victory over Kenya in their Commonwealth Games pool match over the weekend. Kerevi took no further part in Australia’s campaign, where John Manenti’s side lost in the semi-finals to South Africa.

“Rugby Australia had been cagey about details regarding Kerevi, eager not to let the cat out of the bag. Kerevi told reporters he felt ‘alright’ and added: ‘I’m always confident [to be fit to play] but I’ll get a doc on it and see. It was just a big bang but then once it settled down it was fine.’

“But the Suntory centre is expected to miss the remainder of the year, with sources confirming the 41-Test centre is expected to spend at least six months on the sidelines. Kerevi is said to be devastated, believing he has let his teammates down.

“The Wallabies were happy for Kerevi to take part of Australia’s sevens campaign after the former Queensland Reds captain made a promise to his teammates from the Tokyo Olympics that he would try and help them win gold in Birmingham.”

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

35 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Diamond demands law change while accusing Tigers of illegal activity Diamond demands law change while accusing Tigers of illegal activity
Search