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Horror ankle injury rules Highlanders captain James Lentjes out for remainder of Super Rugby campaign
Highlanders captain James Lentjes will play no further part in his side’s Super Rugby campaign after it was confirmed the horror ankle injury he suffered against the Rebels on Friday will require surgery.
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The 29-year-old was taken from the field in agony with his ankle and lower leg bent badly out of shape after he landed awkwardly from a ruck clean out in the 29th minute of his side’s 28-22 loss at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
In a press release sent out on Monday, the Highlanders said that Lentjes had sustained a fracture and dislocation to his ankle, and is expected to undergo surgery within the next seven to 10 days.
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Subsequently, the openside flanker will be out of action for between six to nine months, bringing a premature end to his Super Rugby season.
WARNING: Video contains graphic content
?? A lot of respect for James Lentjes. #SuperRugby #HIGvREB
WRAP: https://t.co/5TwIPKtcn8 pic.twitter.com/Rq5eVWTNsR
— RUGBYcomau (@rugbycomau) February 28, 2020
“Our thoughts are with Jimmy, he has been an outstanding leader for us over the preseason and the early rounds of the competition,” Highlanders head coach Aaron Mauger said in a statement.
“The whole squad join with me in wishing the skip a successful recovery and we look forward to seeing him around the environment post-surgery.”
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The Highlanders have named Otago loose forward Slade McDowall as Lentjes’ injury replacement, while the squad’s two vice-captains – Aaron Smith and Ash Dixon – will fill the captaincy void as co-captains.
A Super Rugby call-up is good reward for 21-year-old McDowall, who has impressed for Otago since making his Mitre 10 Cup debut three years ago and was unlucky not to have received a full contract with any franchise this season.
The Otago Boys’ High School product trained with the Highlanders on an interim training contract over the pre-season, and Mauger revealed that he came very close to earning selection in the full squad.
Fans worldwide have lent their support to Highlanders captain James Lentjes after he suffered a gruesome leg injury on Friday. #SuperRugbyhttps://t.co/En12r6BOUm
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 29, 2020
“Saw his performance in the Mitre 10 Cup, thought he was outstanding, saw a lot of growth in his game, so he’s another guy we’ve tracked really closely and he’s not too far off,” Mauger told RugbyPass in November.
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“Really excited about having him through the pre-season to keep developing his game and learn a bit more about him.”
McDowall joins his former New Zealand Schools teammate, ex-New Zealand U20 star and Canterbury lock Will Tucker as two new additions to a 27-man travelling squad which has departed for a two-match tour of South Africa and Argentina.
Tucker’s addition to the Highlanders bolsters the side’s stocks at lock, as the likes of Pari Pari Parkinson and Josh Dickson have been left at home to mend some minor injuries that prevented them from facing the Rebels over the weekend.
The defeat to the visiting Australian outfit leaves the Highlanders clamped to the bottom of the New Zealand conference with just one win from four matches, while they sit in 13th place on the overall standings.
The flailing Dunedin franchise will look to overturn their fortunes when they take on the Bulls in Pretoria this weekend before going on to play the Jaguares in Buenos Aires a week later.
Highlanders touring squad to South Africa and Argentina
Backs: Aaron Smith, Kayne Hammington, Mitch Hunt, Josh Ioane, Teihorangi Walden, Ngane Punivai, Jona Nareki, Michael Collins, Tima Fainga’anuku, Scott Gregory, Josh McKay.
Forwards: Ayden Johnstone, Liam Coltman, Ash Dixon, Nathan Vella, Jeff Thwaites, Siate Tokolahi, Daniel Lienert-Brown, Manaaki Selby-Rickit, Jack Whetton, Will Tucker*, Slade McDowall*, Dillon Hunt, Shannon Frizell, Marino Mikaele Tu’u, Jesse Parete, Teariki Ben-Nicholas.
In other news:
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Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 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
3 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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.
30 Go to comments