‘Nature of the game,’ says coach Dave Rennie about crocked All Blacks players
· Citizen
All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie took a philosophical approach to the mounting injuries in his squad ahead of the first Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry (RGR) Test against the Springboks at Ellis Park on Saturday.
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The All Blacks have already lost four players permanently to injury since arriving in the country, while a few others have question marks hanging over their heads ahead of the first of four Tests in the coming month, plus a game against URC franchise, the Lions.
The players who have had to head back home early are prop Ollie Norris, after he picked up a knee injury during their tour match against the Bulls at Loftus over the weekend, hooker George Bell, centre Billy Proctor and wing Caleb Clarke.
Adding to that, back up scrumhalf Cortez Ratima, who has played in all three tour games so far, is now also in danger of being ruled out of the tour, although he will stay with the squad and be monitored, after coming off the field over the weekend with a posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injury.
Recovering players
The other players who have niggles, but are expected to feature at some point are utility back Damian McKenzie, scrumhalf Cam Roigard and wing Will Jordan.
Rennie on Monday elaborated on the injury situation in his camp.
“He (Ratima) had a scan, so it’s a PCL injury, but we’re going to see how it is over the next 48 hours. Obviously, we’re a little bit thin at nine as it is, so getting Noah (Hotham) in will be good,” said Rennie.
“We expect Cam to be ready to go on the weekend. We’ve still got KP (Kyle Preston) if Cortez was no good, and we’d need Noah to play on the Tuesday (against the Lions).
“We’re hopeful with him (McKenzie). He had a light run yesterday. He’s doing a bit more work with the physios this (Monday) morning. He’ll play a limited part in the session this afternoon. We’re hoping to get him running by tomorrow, so we’ll know a bit more probably in the next 24 hours.
“We’re anticipating they’ll (Roigard and Jordan) be fine. Cam’s played a hell of a lot of rugby this year, so him not playing so much lately is not a bad thing.
“Will came into that French Test on the back of being out for a long, long time. We’re confident those boys will slot straight in, clear on our structures and their roles within it. We’re just making sure they’re physically ready to go.”
Nature of the game
Speaking about the unfortunate nature of the injuries, Rennie admitted it was just a part of the game that everyone has to get used to, as it affects every single team and can happen at any time, whether in a match or in training.
“You always hope for the best, but they have been collision injuries outside of George Bell, who did his in a clarity jog session. It’s the nature of the game,” explained Rennie.
“You look at Billy Proctor’s injury (against the Stormers) over jackalling a ball, just the angle he got hit on. Caleb is quite amazing, really, because we think he did that (injury) in the first half (against the Sharks) and he’s catching balls above his head and charging into people (after playing on).
“Amazing what adrenaline does. It’s sad for those guys, having a tour over so early, but it’s the nature of the game.”