Rennie reveals timeline for playmaker's return
INJURY UPDATE: New Zealand head coach Dave Rennie clarified the availability of one of his playmakers for the remainder of the Greatest Rivalry tour against the Springboks.
The All Blacks were forced to call up a fourth scrumhalf in Crusader Noah Hotham on August 17 as cover for Cortez Ratima, who suffered a minor knee injury against the Bulls.
Rennie confirmed that No.9 Ratima is still on track to play a role against the Springboks over the course of the next few weeks and clarified the extent of his injury.
“He’s coming through pretty quickly; it’s a PCL injury. It’s something that occurs when you land hard on the knee on the ground.
“The longer we leave him, the stronger he will get. He’s definitely in with a chance for the third Test, but we’ll make a call on him.”
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Hotham started against the Lions in their narrow 41-36 win this past Tuesday, with Kyle Preston featuring off the bench as the only player to have been involved in all of New Zealand’s games during this tour so far.
Rennie revealed his plan for how he will manage his halfbacks’ workloads over the next couple of weeks.
“We brought three scrumhalves thinking it would be enough to share the load, and then Cam [Roigard] only played one of those games,” Rennie said.
“It’s been good for those other guys. KP [Kyle Preston] – we were keen to give him some footy on Tuesday because he only got about seven or eight minutes in the Test.
“It was good to get 30 minutes in him and the other guys like Anton Leinert-Brown and Peter Lakai; they would’ve done more playing than training on Tuesday.
“But he [Kyle Preston] has been good. He suits our game – he’s quick to the breakdown, he’s abrasive and got a really good skill set, so that’s pleasing for him pushing as well.”
