Rennie provides worrying Segner injury update ahead of Lions clash
REACTION: All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie remained coy about the severity of Anton Segner’s injury ahead of his side’s clash with the Lions at 10Bet Ellis Park on Tuesday.
Segner was selected on the bench to face the Springboks in the opening Test of the Greatest Rivalry series, which New Zealand won 33-16.
The 25-year-old was subsequently withdrawn hours before the game and replaced by Simon Parker.
The All Blacks confirmed that Segner has a swollen ankle which has been assessed as “acute inflammatory arthritis”.
They are yet to determine when he will be available to play again or whether he will return home.
After naming his team to face the Lions, Rennie provided an update on the loose forward.
“There’s nothing that I can really share at the moment,” he said.
“He won’t be available this week; he went into hospital for another check-up.
“Yeah, look, there is something brewing, but I’ll be a bit clearer by later tonight.”
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Rennie also confirmed that both Ethan De Groot and Josh Lord will miss the second Test in Cape Town after leaving the field against the Boks with concussion injuries.
“The two that came off with concussion have been ruled out immediately,” he explained.
“They are on a 12-day stand down; they were actually both pretty good post-game, but neither Ethan or Josh will be available on Saturday.”
Rennie has since called up prop Ofa Tu’ungafasi and lock Jamie Hannah to provide cover for De Groot and Lord.
The duo will feature off the bench against the Lions just a day after landing in South Africa.
“We were trying to track them down immediately after the game.
“I sent Jamie [Hannah] a couple of messages, and we had to get someone to go around and knock on the door and wake him up to let him know he had about four hours to get on the plane.
“They’ll arrive first thing tomorrow morning [Monday]. It’s not a lot of time on the ground, but at least Jamie has been with us.
“They’ll both be on the bench; hopefully they won’t have to play too many minutes. It just allows us to leave out a couple of other guys, so we haven’t got big numbers having to back up again on Saturday.”
