The missing stars: The players who won't line up for North-South match
Sam Cane’s health will not be risked in the North versus South fixture next week but All Blacks coach Ian Foster has given a positive projection for his captain’s return from concussion.
Foster is, however, resigned to being without Ngani Laumape and Scott Barrett until much later in the year.
Newly installed All Blacks captain Cane suffered a nasty head knock when he collided with Jordie Barrett’s hip in the Chiefs’ final Super Rugby Aotearoa defeat against the Hurricanes in Wellington on August 8.
The collision left Cane knocked out and prone on the turf before he eventually managed to walk from the field.
While Cane will miss the North versus South match on August 29, to be played in either Wellington or Auckland depending on the Covid-19 restrictions, Foster remains upbeat he will be available for the All Blacks first hit out of the season. At this stage, that is scheduled to be against a Moana Pacific side on October 3 at Mt Smart Stadium.
“Sam Cane hasn’t really started going through the return to play protocols from a training perspective because his team has disassembled so he’s been taking some time,” Foster said on Tuesday as the respective North and South squads were named. “He’s looking really good, getting better each day, so we’re hopeful that won’t take too long but it’s more of a precautionary thing now.”
Despite Cane’s absence the North’s loose forwards are stacked with Lachlan Boshier, Akira Ioane, Dalton Papalii, Ardie Savea and Hoskins Sotutu all vying for starting roles.
Several other leading All Blacks are also unavailable for the North-South fixture.
Dane Coles will miss the match with a minor calf complaint – his absence paving the way for Blues hooker Kurt Eklund, who has impressed since taking the injured James Parson’s place, to be included in the North Island squad.
“It’s his other leg so not a re-injury. He’s not too bad but it was such a marginal decision to get him right for this game and we wanted to make an early call.”
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Hurricanes second five-eighth Laumape was in exceptional form before fracturing his forearm in the victory over the Crusaders in Christchurch and will now be sidelined for much of the year.
Foster placed Laumape’s expected return around the same time as Crusaders captain Scott Barrett, who had surgery on his big toe in late June.
“There’s a chance he could become available in that late October-early November period.”
Two test loose forward Luke Jacobson made his return in the Chiefs final match against the Hurricanes but, given his lack of game time, Foster has instead given the 23-year-old a chance to rebuild his body and push his case with Waikato in the Mitre 10 Cup.
All Blacks and Chiefs prop Atu Moli had surgery on his hip that will probably rule him out for the remainder of the year, while Highlanders lock Pari Pari Parkinson (ankle) and Crusaders second-rower Quinten Strange (chest) suffered knocks in their final matches which took them out of contention for the North-South fixture.
Comments on RugbyPass
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