All Blacks sweating over Barrett, Jordan injuries ahead of Wales Test
INJURY UPDATE: New Zealand could be without key backs Jordie Barrett and Will Jordan for next weekend’s Nations Championship clash against Wales after both picked up injuries in Saturday’s 43-21 victory over Scotland at Murrayfield.
Jordan suffered a suspected hamstring injury in the second half, while Barrett was forced off for a head injury assessment after a collision with Scotland replacement Blair Kinghorn. He subsequently failed the HIA.
“Jordie failed his HIA, so it’s not sure whether he’ll be available this week, but we’ll get a bit of clarity later,” All Blacks coach Dave Rennie said.
On Jordan, New Zealand’s all-time leading try-scorer, Rennie added: “He might have tweaked a hamstring. We’ll assess that, and I’m not sure of the severity of it.”
The All Blacks are already without several key players, including influential loose forward Ardie Savea, for their four-match November programme in Britain. However, they had little trouble overcoming Scotland, despite trailing by just three points at half-time.
Rennie admitted his side had been guilty of ill-discipline in the first half, with Wallace Sititi and Peter Lakai both sent to the sin bin.
“It was an ill-disciplined first half with a couple of yellow cards,” he said. “You give Scotland opportunities near the finish zone, they’re going to hit you, but we were better in the second half.
“We went to a contestable kick game to limit their time from a counterattack point of view, and were a lot more clinical, and we dominated territory a bit better.
“You just saw us lose our shape a couple of times, and from turnover we had two or three really gilt-edged opportunities that we spilt.”
New Zealand travel to Cardiff to face Wales on Saturday.
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