'He was struggling': All Blacks coach reveals extent of Ruben Love's injury

The All Blacks will be without the services of Hurricanes playmaker Ruben Love for the upcoming Bledisloe Cup Tests against an in-form Wallabies side, who travel to New Zealand on the back of an impressive victory over the Springboks.

Love started the first six Tests of the international season under Dave Rennie, who put enormous amounts of trust in the young first-five, having not featured at first-five for the All Blacks previously.

Even with Beauden Barrett, Richie Mo’unga, Damian McKenzie, and Josh Jacomb in the environment during the South African-based three Tests against the Springboks, Rennie and the selectors continued to opt for Love.

But, heading into the first Test against the Wallabies on Saturday, October 10 at Eden Park, it seems likely that either Mo’unga or Jacomb will start the Test at No.10 as Barrett has been listed as an outside back.

When asked about the severity of Love’s injury, Rennie explained that it’s the same ankle niggle the Hurricanes first-five had during the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season.

“Yeah, well, I mean, it was only confirmed yesterday, the fact that he wasn’t going to be available. He sort of nursed it a little bit through Super Rugby. He’s tough, Ruben.

“He was probably struggling a little bit in Africa, but while he was getting a bit of medical attention, he wouldn’t be talking much about it, and so yeah, it’s certainly serious enough for him to not be available.

“He can probably run at 70%, but that’s not great for him, not great for us. So we can’t put a timeline on it yet, and that’ll become clearer over the next week or so.”

Rennie also confirmed that All Blacks midfielder Quinn Tupaea, who missed the fourth Test against the Springboks, would be available after recovering from a minor knee injury.

“Yeah, no, Quinn’s good to go. We did consider him playing a little bit of footy for Waikato on the weekend, but yeah, he’ll be fine.”