mens
international
All black people Head coach Dave Rennie released the injury update after naming his 36-man squad for the Nations Championship, including the competition’s inaugural finals weekend.
Injury clouds hung over several New Zealand players heading into the November test window, with more than a dozen others confirmed unavailable.
Fehi Fineanganofo, Jordie Barrett, Patrick Tuipulotu, Leicester Fainga’anuku and Richie Mo’unga have all missed time with what are believed to be short-term injuries, but Tuipulotu is the only one of the cohort to miss out on selection in New Zealand’s finals squad this year.
“As you saw with Patty, he was phenomenal against Ireland,” Rennie said after revealing his team. “He played quite a bit for us in South Africa.
“He had a bit of a calf injury. Now he’s fully back; he hasn’t made any contact or full contact yet, but he’s technically available for selection. But the quality of player we have there at the moment.”
Mo’unga traveled with the team during the Bledisloe Cup Series despite pulling out with a calf tear sustained while training for the opening game of the series. Rennie has confirmed that he will not be available for selection for the first Test of the tour, crossing with Scotland in Murrayfield.
“Richie will not be available for Scotland,” the coach stated. “He’s a good chance for Wales. So we decided we’d better bring him in. He’s a strong chance, obviously from a World Cup perspective, and I think we’ve done a pretty good job around him.”
“We took him to Sydney so our guys at MedFit could spend a lot of time building him up. He’s been working really well over the past week and we’ll continue to build him up when we get to Scotland. But probably available for Wales.”
Tyrel Lomax is one of the latest to require rehabilitation, continuing a string of back-to-back injuries by succumbing to an ongoing neck problem.
“Tyrel, we decided to stay at home. He’s been struggling with a neck injury for a long time, so we had Siale (Lauaki) in Africa and Saula came in as a substitute. And Saula is a massive man; he had a great NPC, a big scrummager, he can hit things and show.
“And I think Siale is probably better on the pitch, maybe not quite as strong in a tight scrimmage, so it’s always decisions.
“I mean, even the hook spot, you know, with Samisoni out, obviously it’s nice to have Asafo back; George Bell. But Bradley Slater had a really good year, too. So we’re starting to get some depth.”
