Late injury blow for All Blacks
INJURY UPDATE: The All Blacks suffered a late injury blow to their front row cover ahead of Saturday’s opening Rugby Championship game against the Wallabies in Sydney on Saturday.
Replacement tighthead prop Ofa Tuungafasi was ruled out of Saturday’s encounter because of a rib cartilage injury.
It means Karl Tu’inukuafe, who normally plays on the loosehead, will now switch to the backup tighthead role with Tim Perry making his way onto the bench to cover loosehead.
Hurricanes prop Jeff Toomaga-Allen is on his way to Sydney to provide front row cover.
All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen said he is confident in Tu’inukuafe’s ability to cover tighthead.
“That’s where he started his career, and he has trained really well there,” Hansen told stuff.co.nz.
“Crono [scrum coach Mike Cron] has been working with him for the last three or four weeks. He looks good there.”
All Blacks – revised: 15 Ben Smith, 14 Waisake Naholo, 13 Jack Goodhue, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (captain), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Liam Squire, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Joe Moody.
Replacements: 16 Nathan Harris, 17 Karl Tu’inukuake, 18 Tim Perry, 19 Scott Barrett, 20 Ardie Savea, 21 Thomas Perenara, 22 Damian McKenzie, 23 Anton Lienert-Brown.
Date: Saturday, August 18
Venue: ANZ Stadium, Sydney
Kick-off: 20.05 (22.05 NZ time; 10.05 GMT)
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Wayne Barnes (England), Luke Pearce (England)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
Source: stuff.co.nz
